Memoirs of a One Piece OC, Snows of Time Arc
by TenshiNoFuu
Summary: COMPLETE ONE PIECE FOCUS. The One Piece Universe has been deeply shambled by paradoxes since Ace was saved at Marine Ford by a girl who wasn't supposed to be there. Now the Mugiwaras land on a Winter Island which seems trapped into an Eternal Winter...
1. Note

_The story you are about to read is only part of a wider story called "Memoirs of an OC" and displayed in the genereal section under 'One Piece' fandom._

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All the content of the chapters will be exactly the same, and for coherency reason, it is adviced to follow the story from its beginning at this link .net/s/6254959/1/Memoirs_of_an_OC_Outsider_Character

The reason it is also displayed here is only to make it known from a wider public highly interested in AU and crossovers scenarios. Nonetheless, each of the Quest the Mugiwaras will go through to resolve one of the paradoxes happening in their world is somehow an independent story, so you are welcome to read them individually. Please refer to "The Story up until Now" section below before the beginning of the real Arc.

Please Enjoy (^_^)

P.S: Reviews are welcome on this story AND on the main story!

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**Paradoxes Solved during the Main Storyline (by chronological order)**:

* ICE ARC: The Chronicles of Narnia

* * *

**The Story up until Now:**

* _Story I._

Fuu is an ordinary girl from her world, fan of Shoujos mangas and regularly fighting with her brother Clow about it. One day, when she insults his heroes in front of him, he decides to send her have a little cruise on Grand Line with them. By living with them, Fuu realizes the Mugiwaras are far better than anything she could have imagined and sincerely befriends them. His objective reached, Clow brings back his sister in the real world.

Environment: Thousand Sunny

Main Characters: Mugiwaras

* _Story II._

Several months after the previous story, Fuu lands once more on Grand Line, but on a wooden scaffold, right in the middle of Marine Ford War. Not understanding at all what her brother's whim is this time, she decides to save Ace and try to make everyone escape. She fails due to the huge amount of energy it was costing her to actually be inside the story and comes back to the real world in despair, completely destroyed to see what the outcome of the war has become.

Environment: Marine Ford

Main Characters: Ace & Luffy

* _Story III._

Regretting the pain he has infilcted to his sister by playing with her and sending her in One Piece without thinking of the consequences, Clow decides to use all of his author resources to come back to the past, modify the original scenario of One Piece, and erase his sister's memory about it, forcing an alternative end to Marine Ford and suddenly duplicating the universe. The little conjuring trick works, but he and Fuu are now stuck into One Piece Universe, spatiotemporal and paradoxical distorsions occuring because of their presence. The first paradox solved is the one of the Little Robin, and Fuu regains her memories afterwards, realizing that it is now their responsibilities to look for all the discrepencies into One Piece Story in order to solve them (besides, it is also their only way out of this world).

Environment: Moby Dick

Main Characters: Little Robin, Ace & WhiteBeard's Pirates

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_This Story begins the Day after Clow left his sister (Story III. & Omake), on the Moby Dick._


	2. Ch 1: Out of the Wardrobe

_What happens when the deed of a fan-fiction author has modified so deeply the world of One Piece that its heroes – and guests – now have to face the paradoxes he's created?_

**

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Original Happening Date: **April 2010**  
Universe: **Alternative Universe, Crossover**  
Themes: **Adventure, Romance  
**Pairings: **LuNa, ZoRo (hinted), AceXOC (for the patient ones)  
**Number of Chapters: **10 + 1 Special **/ Words: **57000 + 2000  
**Rating: **T  
**Warnings: **None  
**Credits:** All characters beside the two OC (Outsider Characters) Fuu and Clow are the property of Eiichiro Oda and their respective copyrights holders across the world / All characters from the crossover universe presented here are the property of Clive Staples Lewis.  
**Guest Star:** Clow, alias Clowsama (.net/u/1552380/Clowsama)

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**THE DAY THE BENDED STORY OF ONE PIECE GOT MINGLED WITH THE SNOWS OF TIME**

…

Fresh Beginning, out of the Wardrobe

…

**GRAND LINE, MOBY DICK**

"Fuu!" shouted Luffy while barging in her cabin, despite all Nami trying to prevent him from entering a girl's cabin without prior consent of its owner – but without success…

Fuu raised her eyes from the letter – or rather book, considering its thickness – that her brother had left her the day before, upon leaving the Moby Dick to resume his quest… A quest of spatiotemporal paradoxes he needed to fix up, since he was the one who had involuntarily created them in One Piece Universe.

"Kyaa…" let escaped Fuu from surprise, before managing to catch back the round mirror she had dropped when Luffy had startled her, before it shattered on the wooden floor of the cabin.

The hand mirror had been left with the letter, and had been generated by the Devil Fruit power of her brother. It constituted a direct communication device with him if she had something urgent to tell him – the other way around wasn't really valid, since Clow had taken the _irritating_ habit of popping out in the middle of nowhere in his mirrors.

Up until Luffy's arrival, Fuu had spent her time reading the letter, and reading it again and again, endless times, still unable to integrate in her heart that both Clow and her were now stuck into the fictional world of One Piece because of the writing power of her brother – a power materialised here as the Kari Karin no Mi. His power… His doing…

_But somehow… I can't really resent him for that… I mean, he apparently used this little conjuring trick for me – since he had never used his writing power to send his own avatar in fan-fictions before… For me… for the me he had sent into One Piece for the fun, only to realise afterwards that the ending was quite bitter-tasting…_

_Ace… Marine Ford… Tsk, I should have concealed the fact that I had gotten too deeply involved with this world, with their characters… Of course he would feel guilty seeing me crying in the real world because of what had happened here… I guess it was hard for him to see me so miserable… But I would have never expected him to go against his own principles: modifying the Story of the mangaka he respects the most… I'm still amazed!_

Fuu was recollecting the words her brother had used to characterise their both personalities.

'_Responsible'… but 'abusing one's power' to protect the ones 'dears to us from tears and despair', huh… Tsk, I feel more like I'm responsible for a huge mess! What the hell am I doing here with a Devil Fruit powerful enough to destabilise this world? No but come one: a guest more powerful than the real heroes, is it even allowed that kind of things? Nonsense… Especially since I was plain normal the first time he sent me here – well, I guess my 'normal' mode is 'weak' inside a Shounen manga, sigh… And also, since he had erased my memories, I even ended up using this power to solve a conflict between WhiteBeard and the Marines… Oh my, have I ended up modifying the Story too? No, wait a second, I think I remember WhiteBeard was supposed to… at Marine Ford… So the Story was already modified? What a headache!_

_And… how stupid of me! I really need to stop using this power for big things – even if it's easier said than done, now that I'm used to handling it – it's so useful, tsk… But well, I'm certain Clow would have never wanted me to keep it after his little 'lend' at Marine Ford: after all, sending a guest in his favourite fandom while granting her a power able to steal the spotlight from even Luffy is definitely… well, if I hadn't been his sister, I'm sure I would already be dead for such an affront… So in the end, I guess changing the Story since Marine Ford must have been hellish, and that Fruit ended up staying within me, sigh… What a jinx…_

Fuu was now remembering what Luffy had said several months ago, when she had offered him to teleport back all his dispersed nakamas: that it wouldn't be interesting!

_How right he was! First, a hero can't live his life so easily, if not, no one would want to read his adventures… And then, me too, I wouldn't want a boring adventure where no effort has to be made: uncertainty is what makes things exciting! To be honest… ultimate power… that's boring to no end, tsk… That's a bit like being immortal: everyone dreams about it but I'm sure everyone would become quite blasé of having eternal life, in the end… Okay, come on! I need to cheer up a little and take that upon me… Even if I hate being helpless, I must take my responsibilities… I guess having an ultimate power and forcing myself not to use it is a challenge against human nature itself, but let's take it on… Starting now, I will have to show that all my philosophy classes have left some imprint on me! Yosh!_

_Well… No but more seriously, philosophy course… in an idiot-looking Shounen manga like One Piece? What the hell happened in my stupid brother's mind so that he would decide to send his overly serious and Shoujo-fan big sister in a world as light-hearted and delirious as One Piece? I must recognise I've been very happy to live with them all, for a few months… overjoyed, even… something I will miss when leaving, but… But now that I know what my 'place' is, I feel like I'm betraying them, by lying to them about where I'm coming from and what I know about them… I feel like I don't deserve to have a place in this world, and it hurts… It hurts and feels unfair, and Clow is probably feeling the same way, but maybe it's just the compensation for having changed the Story of this world with the power of his Kari Kari no Mi…_

Because of this power, the universe of One Piece was now facing surprising temporal and spatial paradoxes – like the time-lag in Ohara's destruction and the duplication of Robin – and Fuu couldn't help thinking about these science-fiction movies where parallel dimensions were mixing after a spatiotemporal manipulation… but without finding in these scenarios some behaviour guidelines for herself…

Of course, on the other side, no one else was conscious of the discrepancy of the Story, even during or after the resolution of a paradox. Respecting to the Little Robin episode, the protagonists were still remembering having met with a little girl on the Moby Dick, but their memory was completely blur on the rest – exactly as were the memories of the Mugiwaras about Fuu's departure from the Thousand Sunny some eight months before that… Fuu had observed several times a slight uneasiness in Robin's eyes when the archaeologist was talking to her, or to Marco and Ace, but no one had asked explanations about the strange snatches of memories subsisting in their mind, like an instinctive remembrance…

_As if this Alternative World and the real world of One Piece were entering in collision…_

Fuu herself had spent several hours to part in her memory real recollections from 'fictional' stories… She could remember her real life in the real world… She could remember the months spent in this world, between Clow's house on Grand Line, the Moby Dick and the Thousand Sunny, while she had been sure to be fully part of this world… But above all, she could remember perfectly what the Story of this world should have been if Oda-Sensei's scenario had gone on… And each time she was thinking about it, she could feel tears welling up in her eyes, even if she had forbidden herself to let them leave her eyelids.

_The Story has changed… and I feel happy about it… but guilty to feel so at the same time, sigh… And now that the Story is bent, what can I do? What should I do? What is the best for this world, for its characters…?_

Even after an all-nighter spent thinking about it – about what was perturbing the equilibrium of this world, about what she should tell, and what she should hide, about what face to make when speaking with people who shouldn't be in front of her anymore – Fuu still didn't know how to behave with her nakamas.

But, the contagious grin of her idiot captain had instinctively made everything else bustled… and she ended up smiling whole-heartedly at the little group of pirates who had entered her cabin, abandoning all her worries and all her existential questions in the book she had just closed on the desk.

"Luffy," answered Fuu, "What's happening?"

"An island, an ISLAND!" exclaimed Luffy while jumping on the bed with star-shaped eyes, "You're coming with us, right?"

"We finally reached the Winter Island." explained Nami while glancing through the porthole of the cabin, behind which one could see the shape of an island brushed by snowy gusts.

Because of the Buster Call and Fuu's slow recovery, WhiteBeard's Fleet – now joined by the Thousand Sunny – had indeed preferred not to dock on the island yet, and had dropped anchor in calm waters, just inside the climatic zone of the island, but without sailing closer.

_A winter island, huh?_

"But that's for later," added Nami upon seeing her friend glancing at the island, "For now, the head chef Marjane has called for breakfast."

"HEY?" shouted Luffy, "But… the island?"

"LATER!" shouted back Nami while baring her teeth, but Luffy was not listening anymore, two ideas having materialised above his head, the mental bubble filled with exciting adventures on the island fighting with the bubble of food without managing to decide which one was the most important for their owner.

"And your meal is already waiting for you in the dining-room, Fuu-chwan…" said Sanji while starting twirling around Fuu's chair with heart-shaped eyes, his usual love-love mode activating at the sight of a girl, "It's a special breakfast with high recovery capacities, a wonderful recipe from Kamabakka made with all my heart for an angel still convalescing!"

But Sanji stopped his love-love twirl when he saw the cigarette end he always had in his mouth suddenly being set in fire with some alarming proportions.

"Ace!" exclaimed Luffy while jumping back on his feet to go and greet the new visitor at the cabin's door-step, giving his brother a manly clap in his hand, allied with his usual idiot grin.

"Oyaji called everyone in the dining-room, Fuu." said Ace with his outgoing grin looking so much like the smiley of his hat, "We'll take our orders and disembark after that…"

"Oh, sure!" answered Fuu while standing up, putting away her brother's letter and mirror inside the drawer of the wooden desk, "I'm dressing up and I'm coming! I'm really sorry for being late…"

And Fuu run towards the wardrobe, opened wide its doors and started searching something to wear amidst the clothes that Nami had brought her the day before.

TILT. But upon not hearing the door of the cabin closing down after her visitors, Fuu stopped what she was doing to slowly glance back at them, forcing a smile on her lips.

"Come on, Fuu!" said Luffy with an impatient tone, his arms crossed in front of his chest, but without moving from where he was standing.

BONG. Nami's fist had suddenly landed on the heads of Luffy, Ace and Sanji, before tactlessly throwing them in the corridor.

"Guys, OUTSIDE!" shouted she while slamming the door behind them.

"Hihihi…" couldn't help but laugh Fuu, "Thanks, Nami!"

"You're most welcome, tsk! If we stay polite, they don't understand… this group of boors…" commented Nami with a vein bumping on her temple.

She then heaved a deep sigh and turned back to help Fuu rummaging into the wardrobe to find her some appropriate outfit.

"Okay… Since we're going on a Winter Island, we need to find you some warm clothes, but not too much or you will end up boiling up when we will stay inside…" informed Nami, as the good expert she was in this domain.

She looked at some jumpers and vests with shared expression, before throwing them on the bed.

"Well, that's a bit complicated, since you usually wear nice dresses with ribbons and things like that, right?" asked Nami with a short glance for the white nightgown Fuu was wearing.

"Hum, not necessarily…" confessed Fuu with a surprised expression.

_That's just that, up until now, my brother had always sent me in this world in the middle of the night – correction: in the middle of my dreams – so of course I was wearing my nightgowns…_

"But if I can give you some advice," began Nami with a hesitating tone, "You should change your style… because we always end up in some fight with this bunch of idiots! Some of my clothes have already ended up in shambles…"

_I know what you mean… _thought Fuu while remembering the state of her previous nightgown destroyed by Admiral Kizaru's attack.

"So something as sexy and fragile as your outfit from yesterday is out of the question!" decided Nami while piling up clothes on the bed.

_That was a nightgown… _mentally rectified Fuu, _And respecting to the sexy fan-service, I leave it be, no problem…_

"We can't just let you walk around this Fleet filled with perverts in this kind of clothes…" pursued Nami with an angry tone and a trembling fist while recollecting the same nightgown in shambles and Ace 'pouncing' on Fuu the day before.

"Hihihi… Don't worry about that, Nami: the perverts of this Fleet are starting to fear my electric shocks!" joked Fuu while examining a grey velvet pant, « And you know, I'm already grateful to you for lending me all these clothes, so I'm not going to be spoiled and do in function of the others… »

"You'd better, indeed: they're a real bunch of idiots!" sighed Nami while rummaging a bit more in the wardrobe, "There's really none of them to raise the level up!"

Fuu laughed while thinking about the three 'idiots' that Nami had sent flying in the corridor some minutes ago, and kept on looking for something warm amidst the piles of clothes that were ONLY some surplus from Nami's belongings.

"Hum… It mustn't be easy, right? You and Luffy?" smiled Fuu while finally taking out a pair of boots from the wardrobe.

Nami blushed slightly, and acquiesced with a sulking expression. Fuu softly smiled at the shy expression of her nakama – who had managed to be so determined about guys in general but hesitant about one of them in particular – and started changing her clothes. In the end, Nami and Fuu had agreed on a look very… _pirate! _thought Fuu while looking at the high leather boots, the velvet pant, the tanned leather belt, the ample-sleeved white shirt, the thick V-necked cardigan, and the long coat of Sea-King leather doubled with wool that resembled an officer coat.

"Wow!" admitted Nami, "That kind of style suits you a lot too! Especially when tying your curly hair up with a ribbon… That looks really… really…"

_Pirate… _wanted to complete Fuu, but she kept it for herself, _Well, pirate as they are pictured in my world, pirates from the era of Galleons and battles in the Caribbean Sea… I only miss the sword and the three-cornered hat and I would look like Jack Sparrow… well, without locks, that is!_

And while smiling at this idea, Fuu followed Nami out of the cabin to go and meet with WhiteBeard, Ace, the Mugiwaras and everyone else in the dining-room.

**

* * *

MOBY DICK, DINING-ROOM**

The arrival of the two girls went completely unnoticed, all the pirates in the room being apparently focused on something else, the hubbub of the commotion seeming several tones over the usual noisy mood during meals.

Nami felt deeply vexed by the lack of admiring reactions, and dragged Fuu at the Mugiwaras' table, internally cursing the lack of aesthetic taste of the surrounding public.

"Ah, Nami-san, Fuu-chan!" began Sanji with a slightly panicked tone, "Look at that, it's…"

But Sanji stopped abruptly in the middle of his sentence to look at Fuu from head to toes.

"Fuu-chwan! That's just sumptuous! A sight worthy from paradise!" exclaimed Sanji while squirming around the two girls with heart-shaped eyes.

Nami grinned and gave a thumb-up to Fuu, who just sighed with embarrassment while the cook was twirling around her with a dumb love-stoned expression.

"Fuu-chwan, why not opening a little more the buttons of this wonderful shirt?" giggled Sanji while staring at Fuu's cleavage with flushed cheeks, and lifting his hands closer to the aforementioned buttons with a perverted grin, "Hiding such a beautiful body… we're not under the snow yet…"

But before Fuu had had the time to realise what Sanji was planning – and which had probably brought him an electric shock – Sanji screamed of pain while taking his enflamed butt in his hands to try and smother the fire, before finally grabbing a jug of water on the table and water his pant, under the amused look of Nami who eyed a cool and expressionless Ace with a conniving expression.

But Fuu had missed the entire scene, because at the very same moment, Luffy had grabbed her arm and rewinded his elastic arm back, in order to pull Fuu on the other side of the table.

"Luffy!" lectured Fuu while knocking him out with a punch on his head to remind him that she wasn't in rubber, HER, and that repatriating her by elastic arms was definitely a dangerous idea, especially respecting to the landing!

"But…!" protested Luffy, "Look, Fuu, look at this!"

And Luffy hid himself behind a wanted poster that had arrived the very same morning with the newspaper, and which had been a hot topic of conversation around the whole crew since then.

Fuu immediately stopped the second punch she had prepared for the culprit, and stared at the wanted poster with incredulous eyes. The picture was showing a girl in a short white dress, sitting on the railing of a ship under the starry sky, a book in her hand and her two immaculate wings shining through the night.

Fuu first wondered _how the hell _they had managed to take such a picture, then started blushing furiously at how _embarrassing _this picture was, before suddenly realising it wasn't the major problem at this point… Because inevitably, under the name 'Tenshi no Fuu' – Fuu from the Nation of the Angels, _Oh come on, they couldn't have found me a more original surname, these Marines, if they ignored my real family name?_ – was printed her bounty: 80 millions of Berrys.

"You have the same bounty as me." sighed Robin with an accomplice smile, "Somehow, it is rather logical… after all, they put the two of us in the category of the 'Monsters' dangerous for this world!"

TILT. Robin seemed to suddenly realise that what she had just said sounded weird and that she couldn't really remember where she had heard such a comment, but before she could dwell on it, the rest of the Mugiwaras started sharing their opinions on the matter too, and Robin's thoughts got lost amidst them.

"80 millions…" mumbled Fuu while panicking about a certain brother of hers who will definitely be mad at her for that.

"80 millions, that's not the problem, tsk…" groaned Zoro, "The problem it's about the 'Dead or Alive' option…"

_Option?_

And Fuu looked back at the poster. Indeed, at the place where should have been printed the mention, one could read an 'option' rather different: "Dead or Alive, Preferably Dead: + 100 millions".

Fuu's face got suddenly as white as a sheet.

"So, to sum up…" added Ace – who had approached closer to Fuu – with a tensed expression, "Your bounty is worth 180 millions of Berrys if someone delivers your dead body to the Marines! Marines, hum…? Tsk, that really doesn't look like something Sengoku will do…"

"Yeah, usually they want pirates alive to judge and execute them, just so that they can show off a bit their absolute justice…" added Zoro in good ex-pirate-hunter he was, "Usually there's even a cut of 30% in the prime if the pirate is dead, but for you… Tsk, for you that just means…"

"That means someone above Sengoku and the Marine gave the order…" completed Ace while massaging his neck, "That means the World Government really wants to see you dead!"

Fuu was taking the shock in silently.

_I was rather expecting them to put a bounty on my head after the chaos I caused last time, especially since they have discovered the real nature of my Devil Fruit, but…_

_Oh, and Clow is going to lecture me hard-core again, telling me that people from the real world should NOT show off on Grand Line…_

_But more seriously, printing a wanted poster insisting so that bounty hunters kill me is a serious problem… My power is ridiculously powerful, but I don't have any superhuman strength like the others… I am really weak as a manga character, even as a guest, a bit like a level-100 mage in a RPG: completely useless in a close-quarters combat! If I end up being attacked by surprise or with Kairoseki, like during the Buster Call, I will… I will…_

Cold sweats started appearing on Fuu's neck because of anxiety, and her eyes started rolling and losing focus while she was trying hard to evaluate the situation.

But she suddenly felt a peaceful and warm hand caressing her head, and she came back to reality to look at the one who was trying to comfort her.

"I'd thought they would have given you a bounty at least superior to my official," began Ace with a composed yet teasing smile, "But it looks like I'm still the more dangerous from the both of us!"

_Ace?_

"No way! That's MY bounty the highest!" claimed Luffy while flexing his chest muscles, "Mine is at 400 millions!"

"Hum, 80 millions, that's more than Sanji, right?" was trying to calculate Usopp.

"Indeed…" confirmed Brook, before looking at Sanji and heaving a deep sigh of compassion for the cook.

"That's not important!" tilted Sanji while baring his teeth.

"Yeah, and with the subprime, that makes 180 millions, and that's even more than Zoro!" added Franky with a provoking laugh.

"Hey!" yelled Zoro, hurt in his pride.

"Fuu…" sobbed Chopper while looking at her with teary eyes, "Why have you got such a high bounty? Mine is only 50 Berrys…"

"That's because they don't know the real Chopper is way more powerful…" comforted Nami, her comment making Chopper dance with joy even if he was denying being happy.

_Oh my… I had forgotten they were the kind of people to take that lightly… Even if I must confess they're right: what is done is done, and worrying about it won't bring me anything good, hum…_

"Fuu," called the calm and low voice of WhiteBeard, who had walked closer to the table during the discussion, "You don't have to worry. You are safe with us!"

Fuu glanced at the imposing Captain with a guilty yet moved smile.

_It's rather you who are going to be in danger because of me, tsk… Thinking about it, I had promised myself not to cause them any trouble: that's a monumental miss! I really need to slap myself for that, sigh…_

WhiteBeard looked at the worried face of the girl with his usual – rather unusual – doting father smile.

"Don't worry! I won't let them even touch my favourite daughter-in-law!" added WhiteBeard while patting Fuu's head with this fatherly expression that was still making the rest of his crew hallucinate for how odd it looked, in comparison with his customary Yonkou aura.

"DAUGHTER-IN-LAW?" shouted the Mugiwaras, their eyes bulging out of their sockets.

"Would you please stop this joke about a daughter-in-law?" sighed Fuu – already used to it so barely blushing anymore, "We've got on-board some people ready to believe anything one would say…"

And Fuu glanced back at the Mugiwaras, but it was already too late to refute the information: Sanji was all teary and biting a handkerchief of misery; Luffy was happily jumping and claiming he had been right all along; Zoro had drawn his sword and was challenging Ace with a dark stare; Usopp was trying to explain to Chopper what 'daughter-in-law' meant, and the mouth of the little reindeer unhooked in a CLONG when he understood what it implied; Brook was offering to play a wedding march, and Franky was already assembling the organ necessary for that; only Nami and Robin were sighing while shrugging their shoulders, already used to this kind of reactions.

_Somehow… I feel like this joke is making more of an impression on them than the news about my bounty… _thought Fuu while repressing a laugh.

"Whitebeard," began she while looking straight into the Yonkou's eyes, "Please do not concern yourself with me. I'll be fine! I'm planning on staying alive… and free!"

The Captain answered this declaration with a conniving smile, before glancing at his son – and Second Fleet Commander – who was heating Zoro's katana between his fingers, under the horrified look of the swordsman.

"Yeah… We should be able to grant your some protection, gurararara…" mumbled WhiteBeard while laughing on the sly, before putting his impressive Yonkou's air back on his face and announced to the entire crew: "Everyone, get ready to disembark and restock! Exploration Team: report for duty!"


	3. SP: Songfic, Ace

**Original Writing Date: **April 2010**  
Universe: **Alternative Universe**  
Themes:** Romance **/ ****Pairings: **AceXOC  
**Number of Chapters: **SP **/ Words: **2700  
**Rating: **K  
**Warnings: **Spoilers Marine Ford Arc  
**Credits:** Lyrics of the song: "Ce qui me Touche" by Cesar (CV: Christopher Stills) from the French Musical "Cléopâtre, La Dernière Reine d'Egypte" / Original Song on YouTube: watch?v=pCTej5gTtiY.

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**THE DAY THE BENDED STORY OF ONE PIECE GOT MINGLED WITH THE SNOWS OF TIME**

…

Song-Fic: Ace X Fuu ~Ce Qui Me Touche (What Touches Me)~

…

**NEW WORLD, FIMBUL'S SURROUNDING AREA, THOUSAND SUNNY**

While waiting for the Mugiwaras to get ready to disembark on the new Winter Island they had dropped anchor at, Ace was patiently walking around the Thousand Sunny, a bit curious about the new ship of his little brother. He had been attached to Fuu's protection by order from his father WhiteBeard– even if the girl involved ignored it – and no one else within the Mugiwaras had found strange for him to travel with them.

_Not that I want to complain about Oyaji's decision… on the contrary, but… _thought Ace while massaging his neck at the remembrance of his Captain little conversation with Luffy and him, con respect with the girl in question and her power – about which they had had some update by her brother before he left the Moby Dick.

The decision had been unanimously agreed on, but that wasn't what was troubling Ace… What was troubling him was that the more he was looking at Fuu, the more he was feeling some possessive jealousy building up inside him, more than he had never felt before, and so strong that it didn't even spare his little brother.

_When he told her to come with them… Tsk! What was I thinking? It's Luffy! Come on, it's just Luffy! Marco is right, I'd better try and think about it to clear up my head… _sighed Ace while remembering Marco's advice to him, just before his departure for the island with the Exploration Team.

And trying to focus his attention on something else, he started walking around the different corridors of the ship, exploring the docks, startling Chopper in the infirmary before apologising very politely to the little doctor, and pursuing his walk under the main deck.

While passing through Usopp's shed and workshop, he accidentally bumped into a shelf, from which fall numerous things more or less weird that the professional liar was stocking in wooden boxes. While repressing a swearword, Ace swiftly caught back half-a-dozen of items on which gravity had reclaimed its rights and who seemed to want and join the pile of broken material nearby the shelf, but despite his effort, Ace's hands were too full for the last objest, and a Dial fall on the ground.

It switched on… A strange and melancholic tune escaped from it… a song that curiously echoed into Ace's heart.

_**Traverser de longs déserts,**__** (Crossing endless and vast deserts)**__**  
**__**Me relever à bras le corps**__**, (Standing tall and unaffected)**_

_Why am I always thinking about her? That never happened with other girls, or even with Luffy's nakamas, like when Nami and this Princess Vivi were dressed up as desert dancers and were clinging to me at each big lizard coming their way at Alabasta…_

_**Quand parfois, tout reste à faire,**__** (When everything seems to remain undone)**__**  
**__**Etre seul, face au dehors. **__**(Feeling alone, yet never showing it)**_

_When I was chained in my cell, in Impel Down, with plenty of time to meditate alone about my past, not once did the face of a girl appeared in my memories… I didn't even consider at that time that I wouldn't like to die before having found a girl precious to me: this kind of stupid romantic things, that's so not like me!_

_**Entendre ce qu'on dit de moi,**__** (Hearing what people can say about me)**__**  
**__**Le pire du mal, l'éloge du bien. **__**(The worst of evil, the best of good)**_

_When I was a child, I've always hated the blood running in my veins, the blood of my father, the blood of this criminal that everyone hated and blamed to no end, the worst father ever who had abandoned my mother and let her die… Who cares about fame when you're living alone? Who cares who your father is when you've never met him?_

_**Laisser derrière moi les pas**__**, (Leaving behind me the fate)**__**  
**__**D'un homme à l'ultime destin. **__**(Of a man with the ultimate destiny)**_

_When Sengoku announced to the world who I really was, on this scaffold, I really felt awful… I thought that my past was coming back for me and that I would become once more someone that the entire world would want to eradicate or acclaim, but not for who I was: just for who was my father! I felt despair… I felt bitterness and misery… And suddenly, she appeared, as if falling from the sky…_

_**Est-ce que cela me touche vraiment ? **__**(Does all of this really touch me?)**_

_Have something changed at this very moment?_

_**Ce qui me touche, c'est toi (What touches me, it's you)**_

_The face I can draw without having it under my eyes, it's the face of an eerie girl who pulled me out from my execution platform, even though she looks fragile…_

_**Et le bruit de tes pas (And the echo of your footsteps)**_

_The sound I'm always looking out for, even when half-asleep, it's the rustle of her wings that unexpectedly bring her towards me…_

_**Ce qui fait mal, c'est toi (What hurts, it's you)**_

_What had destroyed my heart during that war, that was seeing her abusing her power to help people around her, neglecting her own life for pirates she didn't even know… for me she had barely met for the first time… while me, I was helpless in supporting her…_

_**Quand tu es loin de moi (When you're far away from me)**_

_What was keeping me awake on watch duty in the look-out of the Moby Dick, it was to wonder about her: about where she was, about how she was, about who she was with… and more than everything else, to wonder when she will be back…_

_**Ce qui me brûle, c'est ta peau (What burns me, it's your skin)**_

_I'm the one with a Fire Logia, but still… what makes my body burn from the inside, it's when her skin accidently brushes mine…_

_**Quand d'autres en rêvent trop (When others dream about it)**_

_And when our crewmates look at her too persistently, my head and my fist overheat too, telling me to send these rivals out of sight…_

_**Ce qui fait peur, c'est tes envies (What frightens me, it's your desires)**_

_Worst, when Luffy landed on the Moby Dick with his nakamas, saying he had come for her, for the first time in my life, I wanted to send him back on the seas…_

_**Quand je n'en fais plus partie (When they don't include me)**_

_Just because I was afraid she will join them and leave me behind…_

_**Autour des ombres infidèles,**__** (Amidst treachery and shadows)**__**  
**__**Risquer ma vie à chaque instant. **__**(Risking my live every second of it)**_

_I've always been someone ready to confront anybody! Be it a Shichibukai, a Yonkou, Teach's Yami Yami no Mi or the Marine Admirals: it didn't matter who I needed to face, I just forged my path by myself, without taking anyone along with me…_

_**Et pendant que d'autres sommeillent,**__** (And while others are still sleeping)**__**  
**__**Gagner du terrain et du temps. **__**(Going forward and opening a path)**_

_Way before Luffy entered Grand Line, I was already doing my best to follow what I thought was my goal, my dream… true to my life of pirate and the tattoo on my back… I've never thought that something more important than all of that could appear in my life…_

_**Traverser de longs déserts,**__** (Crossing endless and vast deserts)**__**  
**__**Me relever à bras le corps**__**, (Standing tall and unaffected)**_

_I crossed Grand Line to get rid of a traitor, without even caring about what was waiting for me… In the end, I was defeated, imprisoned and condemned to death… I thought I would never get up again from this scaffold…_

_**Quand parfois, tout reste à faire,**__** (When everything seems to remain undone)**__**  
**__**Etre seul, face au dehors. **__**(Feeling alone, yet never showing it)**_

_At Marine Ford, amidst the surrounding chaos, I fight and opened up a path with my brother on the battlefield, facing my responsibilities and letting our allies prepare their retreat…_

_**Est-ce que cela me touche vraiment ? **__**(Does all of this really touch me?)**_

_But was it really for my nakamas or for the mysterious girl who was betting her life on her teleportation 'spell'?_

_**Ce qui me touche, c'est toi (What touches me, it's you)**_

_The face that started appearing in my mind, in my dreams, starting that moment, it was the face of a girl blushing furiously when I was teasing her but still seriously helping me and healing me while she was already on the verge of fainting…_

_**Et le son de ta voix (And the sound of your voice)**_

_The voice I could hear amidst a thousand on this battlefield, begging me not to fight Akainu and take the teleportation 'spell', it was the one of this girl out of breath but whose eyes speak all the words of this world…_

_**Ce qui fait mal, c'est tes bras (What hurts, it's your arms)**_

_What makes me clench my fists until they bleed, it's to remember her putting her hand on my cheek and apologising to me for not having kept her promise of not using her power…_

_**S'ils s'ouvrent à d'autres que moi (When they open for others than me)**_

_What makes me want to roar of jealousy, it's to see her unconscious in Marco's or Luffy's arms, after a difficult battle…_

_**Ce qui me tue, c'est ton cœur (What kills me, it's your heart)**_

_What makes my heart forget to beat, it's to feel her body temperature dropping insanely fast when she releases her 'spells' and let exhaustion catch her back…_

_**Quand ses battements me leurrent (When its heartbeats deceive me)**_

_And still wondering, in these moments, if her silence is only the quietness of slumber or of something worst…_

_**Ce qui fait mal, c'est tes envies (What hurts, it's your desires)**_

_What hurts to the point I want to scream, it's when I realise I would like to lock her up somewhere where she would see no one needing help, so that she wouldn't threaten her own life to save them…_

_**Moi le témoin de ta vie (For me, the spectator in your life)**_

_And to realise I don't want to let go of her, afraid that life would leave her body when my arms will release her…_

_**De tes envies (Your desires)**_

_All of that because she used her 'spells' to help someone again…_

_**De ta vie (Your life)**_

_All of that because she takes everything on her shoulders without caring about the consequences for her own life…_

_**De tes envies (Your desires)**_

_All of that to protect the ones dear to her, this baka…_

_**Ce qui me touche, c'est toi (What touches me, it's you)**_

_The one without whom I can't live anymore, it's a smiling girl, determined and foolhardy, who spreads her angel wings to cross the morning sky and innocently land in my arms…_

_**Et le son de ta voix (And the sound of your voice)**_

_The voice without which I can't fall asleep anymore, it's hers, her voice who whispers my name before tenderly kissing my forehead with a healing kiss…_

_**Ce qui fait mal, c'est tes bras (What hurts, it's your arms)**_

_What let me dejected, it's to see her wings bringing her across the seas to go and help Luffy and his nakamas…_

_**S'ils s'ouvrent à d'autres que moi (When they open for others than me)**_

_What drives me mad, recently, it's to be unable to control the fury eating me when I see her smiling to others than me…_

_**Ce qui me tue, c'est ton cœur (What kills me, it's your heart)**_

_And what worries me to death, it's to not know how she feels about me…_

_**Quand ses battements me leurrent (When its heartbeats deceive me)**_

_Can I believe in the sound of her heartbeats accelerating when I'm near her?_

_**Ce qui fait mal, c'est tes envies (What hurts, it's your desires)**_

_Can I believe that if she stays near me, it's because she desires it?_

_**Moi le témoin de ta vie (For me, the spectator in your life)**_

_Or is it just that life had brought us towards each other to separate us afterwards?_

_**Ce qui me touche, c'est toi (What touches me, it's you)**_

_But the only one who touches me like that, it's her!_

_**Ce qui fait mal, c'est toi (What hurts, it's you)**_

_The one making my heart hurt so much, it's her!_

_**Ce qui fait mal, c'est toi (What hurts, it's you)**_

_The one making me forget my other dreams just to stay near her, it's her!_

_**Ce qui me tue, c'est toi (What kills me, it's you)**_

_The one making me dying of jealousy when I see her with another guy, it's her!_

_**C'est toi (It's you)**_

_Her and only her!_

_**Ce qui fait mal, c'est tes envies (What hurts, it's your desires)**_

_Her whose selfless wishes I accept, ready to follow her to the ends of this world…_

_**Moi le témoin de ta vie (For me, the spectator in your life)**_

_Her, about whom I wish she would let me share a bit of her burden and a lot of her existence…_

The music escaping from the Dial quieted down…

And along the last notes dying out in the air, Ace slided on the floor with a deep sigh.

_I have to acknowledge that I am more seriously affected than what I had admitted in front of Marco or the others… _thought Ace while massaging his neck.

He gazed at the Dial with a shared expression, and seconds, minutes flew on the silent and desert room.

"Ace!" suddenly rang out the voice he would recognise in a thousand.

Fuu had popped in the workshop half-open door, and was looking at him with a radiant smile.

"Found you!" said she with a joyful expression.

"Cheater…" mumbled Ace without raising his eyes out of the shadow of his hat.

And he suddenly caught her right wrist to pull her to him.

CRASH. Fuu fall down on the floor of the workshop, at the feet of the shelves, right on the person who had attracted her into his arms.

"You used my Vivre Card, aren't you?" teased Ace when finally sending a provoking smile to his prisoner, while designating the glass pearl at her leather bracelet.

"Th… that's not cheating… I mean, nobody knew where you were, so… so…" blushed feverishly Fuu while trying to get out of Ace's embrace.

"Hum… That's not for that reason that I called you cheater…" whispered Ace's at Fuu's ear, making her blush a bit more under the caress of his breath.

Fuu starting struggling, and Ace's eyes gradually fall back in the shadows of his hat, before slowly drawing back and distancing himself from her.

"Ace?" asked Fuu with a surprised tone, while innocently raising her eyes towards the one who was acting weird, perfectly unaware of the influence she had on the person holding her on to his chest.

"Nothing much…" whispered Ace, before regretfully releasing his prisoner.

Still perplexed, Fuu stood up instantly and turned back to walk towards to door, letting Ace suppress a melancholic sigh when contemplating the back of the girl whose feelings he couldn't conjecture…

But just when he was finally resigning himself to follow her, Fuu swiftly turned back and stretched out her both hands towards Ace to incite him standing up.

"Everyone is ready, are you coming?" asked the tender voice without which he couldn't do, while the owner of the voice was gently asking for his hand.

"Coming…" sighed Ace with a faint smile, upon putting his hand in Fuu's.


	4. Ch 2: The Beavers' Onsen

**THE DAY THE BENDED STORY OF ONE PIECE GOT MINGLED WITH THE SNOWS OF TIME**

**…**

Amidst Icy Snow & Hot Onsen, a Beaver

…

**NEW WORLD, FIMBUL, WINTER ISLAND**

"Wow! Great!" shouted Luffy, overjoyed, raising his hand at the level of his eyes to contemplate the immense field of snow covering the valleys, the forests, and the faraway black mountains of Fimbul, "Our first island in the New World!"

"It looks like Drum Island…" marvelled Chopper, with a slightly melancholic tone.

"It's freezing!" shivered Usopp, a drop frozen under his long nose.

"In need of a warm fire?" generously asked Ace, detached to Luffy's exploration team by order from WhiteBeard.

_Luffy, your Niisan is a good person! _thought Usopp while approaching his trembling hands to the vivid flame Ace had switched on in his own hand.

"Humph, if you're cold, it's just that your body is not trained enough." dryly commented Zoro, though he himself was wearing a warm coat.

"Nami-swan, Robin-chwan, Fuu-chwan, are you cold, my goddesses? Do you need me to help you getting warmer?" proposed Sanji while twirling around the three girls.

"Franky and Brook stayed on-board… and I feel like we should have let the others too…" sighed Nami while clenching her fist, a vein starting to appear on her temple.

"We need to restock some food, and we still ignore how long the Log Pose is going to take to record the new magnetic wave, so let's bear with it." said Robin with a neutral tone and an amused look for Luffy, Chopper and Usopp who had started a snow-ball battle.

Half-a-minute later, the fight had involved Zoro, when a miss from Luffy had hit him in his head. And Sanji had joined the battle when Zoro had furiously attacked him with tons of snow when the cook had laughed at the swordsman's face looking like frosted seaweed. Ace had also melted several snow-balls which seemed more like destined to him than missed shots. Nami had shouted at them to stop acting childishly, before finally joining the battle under Luffy's encouraging smile. And Robin had merely settled with forwarding lost balls coming her way through a revolution of 'Calendula'.

_Oh my… I had forgotten, sigh! They can be dead serious when they need to fight bad guys, but the rest of the time, they're a real bunch of kids, hihihi… But well, I guess that it's because they're like that that I'm so fond of them, now… _though Fuu while repressing a laughter.

"Something funny?" asked Ace while coming closer to her.

"Not especially…" smiled Fuu, "I was just thinking that it's nice to travel with them…"

"Hum… True, you never get bored with them!" confirmed Ace with a smile, when looking at his little brother sprawling in the snow.

The little entertaining interlude had of course made the Mugiwaras, Fuu and Ace lose sight of WhiteBeard's expedition team – lead by Marco and made of a little dozen of his nakamas, the line-up being in charge of ordering supply for the entire Fleet, and of locking all the different Log Poses of their navigators on the magnetic waves of the next island. The team was composed of men – and women, since it was counting three of the rare feminine pirates of WhiteBeard's crew – of trust, who were always landing first, as a vanguard in charge of scouting the place for information and supplies, without making the locals panicking at the sight of a whole Fleet of pirates.

But Luffy being… Luffy… he had absolutely wanted to land on the new island too, at the same time – or rather a bit later, since the Mugiwaras were always late in preparing themselves – as Marco's team, in order to explore the place with his own nakamas, and maybe discover some great adventure-to-be.

And Luffy being Luffy, they had already forgotten the main goal of their little exploration plan for some funny game in the snow…

"According to you, how long before we should thought about stopping them and pursuing our exploration?" thus asked Robin while approaching Fuu and Ace.

Fuu then turned her head towards the archaeologist, planning to answer her in a little laugh that it should be considered under the next few minutes, but a missed shot from Luffy prevented her from doing so: the snow-ball exploded on the side of her head, projecting showers of snowflakes in her hazelnut curls.

"AAAHHHH! Luffy, what the heck did you do?" yelled Sanji, before blitzing his captain with new batteries of snow-balls, in order to get revenge for his tender damsel.

"Hum… Sanji?" tried to interrupt Fuu, raising her hand with a drop of bluntness appearing at her temple, "That's not really…"

But the noisy snow battle covered her voice, and Fuu finally abandoned any idea of speaking her way out of it. With a deep sigh of amused weariness, she thus started to shake off her hair curls, one by one, to get rid of the snow.

_To be honest, it's very funny, snow battles: I like them too… but it's just that my hair is always a handful when I need to clean it from snow, tree leaves or this kind of things, sigh… And even if I'm living in this world, I'm not like manga characters who manage to keep their looks immaculate even after apocalyptic fights and twisters, tsk…_

And amidst her inner complaints about her brother not having added a special auto-recovered-appearance option in the little conjuring trick that had integrated the both of them in One Piece Universe, Fuu felt a warm hand caressing her face to dust away the snow.

She raised some surprised yet grateful eyes towards Ace, who was delicately shaking off the snowflakes from her hair.

"Sorry… I should have melted that ball!" apologised he, half laughing.

"Of course not, it's not that important!" answered Fuu with a smile, but feeling a bit strange when sensing Ace's fingers brushing against her skin.

_Why do I feel like my cheeks are way warmer than what the outside temperature should normally allow?_

"Oh, and by the way…" added Fuu, a bit self-conscious about what she could see right in front of her eyes, "Are you not… feeling… cold?"

And she averted her eyes from Ace's bare chest – who had merely thrown a black coat on his shoulders without bothering buttoning it, and changed his orange hat for a similar black one – unconsciously wondering why seeing him half-dressed-up was more awkward for her than seeing him topless as he usually was.

"Hum, do you want to prove it?" provoked Ace with a mischievous smile, while catching her hand to pull her on to him.

"Kyaaa…" let escape Fuu as she was stumbling in the knee-high snow, before falling flat in front of her in a spray of snowflakes.

"WOW! Fuu, homerun!" whistled Luffy out of admiration, "You managed to make Ace fall in the snow? That's just amazing! Me, even when pushing with all my strength, he doesn't budge an inch!"

"We rather call that using the weak-point of the target," smiled Robin who had followed the entire scene, "But I guess it can also be called a homerun, somehow…"

"ACE! What the heck do you think you're doing to Fuu-chan?" shouted Sanji with flame-shaped eyes, while walking angrily towards the two people sprawling one on each other in the snow.

"That's not…" began Fuu, turning scarlet in a microsecond, while trying to get back on her feet, but her hand was slipping in the snow at each tentative to gain some support to stand up, making her falling back on the person under her.

_Hey? _thought Fuu when she finally stopped her desperate efforts upon feeling someone lifting her up by her arm as if she was feathery.

"Honestly…" sighed Zoro while putting Fuu back on her feet, before darkly staring at Ace, still sitting in the snow, and who had voluntarily kept the girl's hand in his.

"Thanks for your help…" screeched Ace with a mischievous smile, silently provoking the swordsman.

"You're welcome…" retorted Zoro with a deadly glare, and without letting go of Fuu's arm.

_Huh?_

"Yare yare…" giggled Robin upon contemplating the panicked and incredulous look of Fuu who was glancing at the two guys with concern, not understanding why they seemed out to get each other, all of a sudden.

"Hum hum…" slightly coughed Nami, "When you will FINALLY be ready, we could MAYBE leave for the main village… WhiteBeard's team is already far away, for your information…"

"HEY? Marco and the others? They left before us to explore?" exclaimed Luffy while glancing around him in search of the team in question, "Not fair!"

And he suddenly dashed with a very competitive spirit towards the direction of the faraway inhabitations, on the snowy valley side.

"Hey, Luffy?" shouted Nami to try and hold him up, but in vain.

Luffy was already out of sight…

And with a sigh of deep world-weariness, the rest of the group left in search for their captain, but way more slowly than him, because the deep snow was making the walk difficult.

Minutes flew by, and Usopp was now closing the procession, since Ace had strafed him hard-core when the professional liar had asked Fuu if she could make all of them fly to the village with her power. But as an alternative and apology for his sudden outburst, the Second Commander of WhiteBeard's Fleet was now opening the path, clearing away the snow with his flames.

And they finally reunited with Luffy, who had stopped in the middle of the way to the valley, happily chatting with… a beaver.

"Luffy?" called Ace upon getting near to his brother.

"Shishishi, this beaver is really nice! He's invited us to come and eat at his place! His family owns an inn!" said Luffy with a large grin of anticipation and a drooling expression at the thought of the food in question.

"The beaver can SPEAK?" exclaimed the rest of the pirates, with a little panel of surprised reactions.

"Of course we can speak!" answered the beaver, quite vexed, before turning to Luffy to add: "Your friends are very rude!"

"No, no, shishishi! They're very funny!" laughed Luffy, "So, where is it, your place?"

"Just at the west end of the village, below the woods. We are managing an inn just near the hot springs gushing out from the mountain. My people are known for their Onsen!" explained the beaver, with a good dose of pride in the tone of his voice.

The little group had started walking behind their guide who was opening the way towards the village and the aforementioned inn, while pursuing the conversation.

"Hot springs?" repeated Chopper, quite baffled, raising his eyes towards Fuu and Nami who were walking nearby him.

"It looks like pools, naturally heated by the high temperature of the surrounding stones… a bit…" described Fuu while speaking with gestures to describe the phenomenon, "well, a bit like open-air baths staying always hot… if you prefer…"

"Exactly, young lady, you know a lot about it!" admitted the beaver with an impressed look for Fuu.

_I can't really tell them that it's a classic in Japanese mangas, can I? _thought Fuu while repressing her comment.

"But the only difference is that our inn counts indoor baths, and not open-air ones." specified the beaver with a self-important expression, "We are collecting the naturally sulphurous waters springing from the rocks outside our establishment to supply our Onsen. It's a very high quality bath, very good for the epidermis!"

"Wow!" marvelled Nami, very enthusiast about the given description, "We haven't taken a good bath since Alabasta…"

"That sounds rather tempting… but it's not the point…" sighed Ace, before asking their guide, "Hey, Beaver-san, how long does it take for the Log Pose to lock on the next island? In how many days will we be able to leave Fimbul?"

"Normally, four or five days…" hesitated the beaver, seeming quite troubled by the question.

"Normally?" highlighted Ace, puzzled.

"That… that depends on the Queen…" mumbled the beaver while lowering his eyes.

_The Queen? _noticed Fuu, raising intuitively her head as her attention grew engrossed by the conversation between Ace and the beaver walking on her right.

"That depends? How come, I mean, we have never heard about an island where the time for recording the magnetic field was varying according to a human factor…?" insisted Nami, quite bewildered.

"Oh! We have reached the village!" cut the beaver, while showing the inhabitations along the main street with his little paw.

The village – or rather small city – in question was spreading itself right between two forests, midway between the coast and the tall black mountains occupying the centre of the island. The wooden houses of various sizes, resembling Nordic huts with their roves covered with snow and ice stalactites, were carefully ordered on the two sides of the main road.

Marco's team was – of course – already in the place, actively chatting with a… centaur.

_Centaur? In One Piece Universe? _thought Fuu with a slight frown, _I had never imagined I would see centaurs in this world… I mean, there a lot of extraordinary creatures on Grand Line, and Clow has always been telling me how funny and interesting it is, but still… how can I put it, it's like the style is different…_

Fuu discreetly glanced at her nakamas, who were walking towards Marco without pausing at all on its extraordinary interlocutor.

_Well, seems like it's just me… Centaurs seem normal… Well, MAYBE I should have read One Piece, after all, sigh… And if I do not want Clow to mock me afterwards, I'd better try and not look too astonished by what I'm going to see in this world, sigh…_

"Ah, you're finally there!" remarked Marco upon noticing their arrival, "We just learned that the Log Pose is taking a bit less than a week to record the next magnetic waves, and they don't have enough food supply for restocking the entire Fleet today: they need to go and collect it from all the other villages on this island… So it seems like we're going to spend some time here."

"We heard about it too." answered Ace, before glancing at the beaver accompanying them and adding: "And we've been invited to visit his inn: they've got wonderful baths, it seems."

"Of course, you would be welcome too!" added the beaver, smug and proud under Ace's compliment.

"Yeah, Marco, you're coming too, right? Pools with sulfu-thing water, that looks so cool!" exclaimed Luffy with star-shaped eyes.

_He's getting carried away, he's getting carried away… _thought the rest of the Mugiwaras with a resigned expression.

"Hum, why not…" answered Marco with a smile, "I'm just taking care of sending a message to the ships to keep them updated with the situation."

And after having sent a messenger to the coast, the two teams of pirates joined each other to follow the beaver towards his inn which was – one had to admit it – quite wonderful: larges rooms with walls in tree-trunks, finely worked yet authentic furniture, ice crystals hanging from the ceiling as decoration, and the whole set in a relaxing ambiance of pine fragrance.

"Wow…" marvelled all together the group of pirates during the visit, their expression ranging from twirling delight to sober smile.

"Since it is still early, I advise you to enjoy the hot springs until lunch." offered the beaver while leading them to the bathroom, "You can change in this room, and the baths are here."

And the beaver slid the wooden panel opening on the baths.

The floor was covered by large paving stones cut in lava-stone, and steam water was saturating the air. Inlaid in the ground were glowing two aquamarine jewels: the sulphur baths in question, glimmering of a blue-green milky colour.

"Wow, the water is opaque!" exclaimed Nami upon contemplating the pools, "What a beautiful colour!"

And while Nami was knocking Sanji out when the cook had started twirling around her saying she was even more beautiful, the beaver started explaining the composition and role of each bath.

"Here is the whirlpool bath," began he while showing the round pool on the right, and which was foaming of big milky-blue bubbles, before designating the widest pea-shaped second bath, on the left, which was surrounded lava-stones serving of benches, and where quiet waterfalls were flowing at each end, "And the second one is the resting bath."

Luffy, Usopp and Chopper had already starting jumping all over the place, and Nami had even needed to catch back Luffy by his collar to prevent him from entering the bathroom all dressed up to go and test the so tempting bubbles.

"The colour of the water is due to the quantity of sulphur present in the spring, and constitutes an excellent treatment of balneotherapy…" was presenting the beaver with an air nearly as proud as when Usopp was telling his usual tall stories – except that here the information given seemed way more trustworthy.

"Great!" exclaimed Luffy, Usopp and Chopper, overjoyed.

"A skin treatment? Wonderful…" smiled Nami, overjoyed too.

"Hum… well, that's delightful and all, but…" began Fuu, a bit ill-at-ease, "But where are…?"

"Where are the women's baths?" calmly asked Robin, finishing her nakama's sentence.

SHIN. A long… long silence followed the question of the archaeologist, and the beaver looked at her without really understanding the motive of her interrogation.

"Humans use different baths for males and females?" finally asked he, quite baffled.

CRASH. The totality of the pirates had collapsed in front of the blatant incomprehension of the non-human innkeeper.

"OF COURSE WE DOES!" yelled Nami while baring her teeth, "We're not going to bathe with perverts like them!"

"Indeed, indeed!" nodded Robin, Fuu, and the three girls part of Marco's exploration team.

So Chopper began explaining the details of the claim of the 'females' to the beaver, admitting from time to time that he himself didn't always understand it.

Zoro and Sanji were fighting once more – Zoro having called Sanji a hopeless idiot when the cook had declared that he would love to bath with his three goddesses – correction: six goddesses now that Marco's nakamas had joined them. Luffy and Usopp were still contemplating the unusual colour of the water while deliberating if they could discreetly enter the bath right now to test it, in Nami's back.

But the hot springs experience was for now on a standstill.

"Sigh, this bunch of idiots…" ranted Nami while taking her forehead into her hands.

She then looked at the glowing aquamarine baths and her lips tighten in an expression of envy difficulty repressed.

"I really wanted to try these baths…" sobbed she while looking with pitiful eyes in Chopper and the beaver's direction, who didn't seem to have found a solution to their problem yet.

"Hum, Nami… Don't worry! I'm sure that now that Chopper had explained the situation, we can find a solution…" tried to comfort her Fuu, not really knowing what to propose to her nakama who seemed so eager to dive in the hot springs, "I mean, in the worst scenario, we could still bathe at different times, or if we don't have time for that, they could share the baths between us and pull a curtain between them or something like that, so…"

"BRILLIANT!" suddenly accepted Nami, the beaver, Chopper and the rest of the girls with their thumbs up.

_Huh?_

**

* * *

A FEW SECONDS LATER**

No sooner said than done!

In less time than Fuu had needed to recover from her surprise, the beaver had called his employees to install a long curtain between the two baths – the entire process being executed at the speed of light – and they had planned that males will enter first and take the big resting bath before the female could enter and take the whirlpool bath – for it being smaller and the door of the changing room opening directly on it.

"HEY? Why?" sulked Luffy with a moody tone when he had finally managed to understand the plan, "I want to try the bubbles one too!"

BONG. Nami's fist had rung out on her captain's head, before she sent him packing – rather changing – a mere second later.

Then the six girls heard the guys disappearing behind the wooden panel, their voices getting farther as they were leaving the changing room – even if some comments like 'Wow, Ace, yours is bigger', 'What?', 'Ace, tell your brother not to compare our tattoos like that' could still be heard from easily identified voices.

And the girls finally entered the now empty changing room, starting preparing for the bath. They then saw a beaver employee bringing them a pile of long white fabrics.

"What is it?" asked Nami, puzzled by the texture of the linen.

"They're towels impregnated with plants essences." explained the female beaver, "When combining their proprieties with the bubbles of the bath, you skin will become way smoother and deeply nourished. It is a special service for females, hihihi."

"Impressive." admitted Robin when gazing at the towels smelling of wildflowers.

"Wow, it's soft and fluid as silk…" commented Fuu when taking the immaculate fabric in her hands to tie it around her chest.

And the six girls finally entered the baths with some excited giggles.

The opaque water was reaching the level of their hips, but the lava-stones installed at the bottom of the bath were made as a bench, so that they could immerse themselves to their shoulders when they were sitting.

And they finally heaved a deep moan of satisfaction when entering the milky bubbles.

"Paradise…" sighed of pleasure all the girls.

"Fuu, that's was great to advise them to draw a curtain between the two baths!" exclaimed one of Marco's nakamas – a russet-haired and tall pirate named Anne that Fuu knew a little after all her visits at the Yonkou's Fleet.

"Hum, definitely brilliant!" added a fair-haired girl who was part of the nurses on-board, and who had taken care of her in the past – even if Fuu couldn't remember it, of course, considering the state she had been in at that time, "If you had not, we couldn't have enjoyed these wonderful hot springs!"

_And us, we couldn't have enjoyed your wonderfully sexy silhouettes as shadow puppets on the curtain of the baths… _thought the pirates in the neighbouring men bath with an aroused air.

"Hey, Mugiwara, your nakamas have some damned awesome bodies!" commented one of WhiteBeard's pirate to Luffy.

"Hum?" tilted Luffy, momentarily stopping his little playful experiment with the blue-green water.

"We were saying you're bloody lucky to have such hot chicks as nakamas!" added another pirate with a coarse yuck.

"…" didn't answer Luffy, ignoring the comment and glaring at the pirate in question, before going back to sit next to his brother.

"What's wrong, Luffy? Did you gulp a mouthful of water or something?" teased Ace upon seeing the annoyed face of his little brother.

"No, not that… That's just… I don't like them speaking of her like that!" muttered Luffy with a dark tone, his mood getting darker at watching the pirates spying at the silhouettes behind the curtain.

**

* * *

MEANWHILE, IN THE WOMEN BATH**

_We can hear you perfectly, you bunch of jerks… _thought in unison the six girls.

"Well, they are not really mistaken, but…" mumbled Fuu while eyeing with envy the other girls, and more especially Nami and Robin, "… I guess that's just out of my league…"

_The nice body of a heroine of manga, what a dream! Sigh… Well, I should know it's just out of reach for someone real like me, so I shouldn't be sulking on it, but still… still a bit – a lot – jealous…_

"What are you talking about, Fuu?" laughed Anne, "I'm sure they were including you in the lot, when speaking about Mugiwara's nakamas!"

"Hum, on that one, I'm not sure which one is the most insulting: being included or excluded in the lot…" remarked Fuu with a shared expression.

"I think we should just take it as a fatality." maturely declared Robin.

"Exactly." answered Anne with some 'you-ll-get-used-to-it' expression.

_Oh my… _sighed Fuu with a drop of perplexity appearing on her temple at the sight of the two young women tolerating their 'status' with such philosophy.

"But in any case, don't worry: you're quite pretty and with nice body proportions!" comforted the blond girl, while starting to circle around Fuu to mentally measure her 'proportions'.

_We can hear the nurse speaking, hihihi… But somehow, that does not especially comfort me on the present topic, to learn that I am 'humanly' proportionated…_

"Hum, not that I would put your word to doubt, but…" hesitated Fuu while eyeing the high-level opponents she was being compared too: Nami and Robin.

"Oh, come on… Or course you're beautiful!" insisted the last girl from Marco's group, a short dark-haired girl, "You're rather tall, with long curly hair…"

_That's because you are shorter than me and your hair is cut short, too! But I would trade all of that for your thin waist and your long and slender legs, if I could, sigh…_

"And also," continued the short-haired girl with an inch of envy in her tone, "You have some very nice breast! That's not difficult to see through the drenched towel, you should at least be a 90C…"

The remark – a bit too well estimated to the taste of the girl in question – made instantly Fuu blush, and made the pirates in the neighbouring bath swallow some mouthful of water of surprise.

_Boobies… 90C, hum… _they started thinking with some dreamy depraved expressions.

"Grr… I understand what you were talking about!" muttered Ace to his brother with a dark glare for the perverts contemplating the curtains with lecherous expressions.

In the women bath, Marco's nakamas had taken the opportunity of seeing Fuu so embarrassed to gather around her with the intention of untying her towel so that they could confirm their estimation. But Fuu, deeply vexed, had sent an aquatic barrier of bubbles dismiss the three girls back to the other end of the bath, before readjusting her towel with a blushing expression.

_What the… Grr, what's with this mania in Japanese mangas to make girls jump on each other in the bathroom to compare their breast size? Seriously…_

"Fuu, I've always wondered…" began Robin, in an aside, upon contemplating the twirl of bubbles that was still maintaining the three girls out of reach, "Why does your power take this kind of shape? I you wished it, you could perfectly use the thunder like Enel, or the fire like Ace-san, or even stretch your body like Kaichou-san… You could wish anything you want, so how come your power never materializes as violent and destroying attacks?"

"Robin?" startled Fuu, completely panicking and glancing back to check if Nami or Marco's nakamas had heard the comment, but the first one was laughing at the latest who were still trying to break the water barrier apart, "How… I mean… you… know…?"

_How can she know about that? I didn't explain the Mugiwaras or anyone the details of my Devil Fruit… not even the little Robin whose memories could have remained in Robin… not even when I thought I was part of this world just like them… I never spoke about it, except with my brother, but no one was there when we discussed the use of my Hoshi Hoshi no Mi… So HOW?_

"Sorry…" laughed Robin when contemplating the perplexed face of her nakama, "I spied a little in your cabin…"

And the archaeologist swiftly brushed her ear with a mysterious yet conniving smile.

_She let her duplicated ear behind, tsk… And she dares confessing it as if it was nothing… No but really…_

"Hum, that's not something to do, you know…" sulked Fuu before finally considering in a deep sigh the question Robin had asked her, "And respecting to my power, well… I guess that comes from… my personality, maybe… If I think about it, I can copy and use any of the power you just described, for sure… But how to put it, spontaneously, what comes in mind, hum…"

_Spontaneously, since I'm NOT a fan of Shounen mangas, the only 'spells' coming naturally to my mind are 'spells' from Magical-Girls stories, or for the best, 'spells' from Heroic Fantasy videogames, like magician or priest spells… Tsk, a bit lousy, I confess: my brother is probably biting his fingers with shame for having given me an absolute power and seeing me using it like that… Well, or maybe he is happy to see that I am NOT using it for world domination and therefore stealing the spotlight to his heroes, I don't know yet, hihihi…_

_But one thing is sure respecting to my power, and I've realized it at fencing or any other sport: I'm really gifted for defence and dodging – to be honest, they're my only good points, tsk – but I have nearly no – if not zero – will of attack… I'm always ending up countering my opponents and focusing on supporting others… Hum, should I worry about that making me a supporting character in a manga…_

_Bygones, let's go back to the matter at stake… Hum, my Devil Fruit, huh… Well, I guess the use I make of it is indeed a good mirror of my personality, sigh… Ah, although when I crack up, I can be rather violent: Marines could testify about it, hihihi… Oh my, what am I laughing about? I shouldn't rejoice about it, grr… After all, Clow chew me hard-core for that, and I readily admit that violence is a no-go, grr…_

"Hum…" paused Robin, upon seeing Fuu completely lost in her own thoughts, "Your personality, then…"

"Hey Fuu!" suddenly called Nami who had come back to sit next to her nakamas, before something caught her attention on the back of her friend, "This… scar…"

Fuu snapped out of her thoughts and finally freed Marco's nakamas from her bubbles twirl. She looked at the worried expression of Nami and let her fingers run on her left shoulder-blade, where a translucent seven-braches-star-shaped scar – or rather long-rayed sun shaped – was spreading on her skin.

"That's the place where Admiral Kizaru had knocked a Kairoseki stone into my body…" explained Fuu with a resigned smile, still feeling an after-taste of blood between her lips upon remembering it.

"Well, they had told us, but… you could have erased this scar with your healing power, right?" asked Nami, her face picturing all the doubt and surprise she was feeling.

"I could have…" admitted Fuu before looking at Nami straight in her eyes with a determined expression, "But I wanted to keep it! To keep it to remind me never to let my garde down anymore…"

And Nami didn't add anything more, just silently approving the resolve of her friend while brushing her own tattoo under her fingers.

"Are you speaking about the scar I took care of on your shoulder-blade?" asked the blond girl while carefully approaching from Fuu to look at her shoulder, "Well, you're naturally healing quite fast, but of course it damaged your body a lot! Kairoseki is just a nightmare for Devil Fruit eaters… So even if you had managed to pull it out very quickly…"

"Ah, the famous stone that Ace dig out from you shoulder on the deck, right?" asked Anne with a rhetorical tone, "If I remember correctly, that was the moment you were surrounded by Marines, and we were all prisoners in a corner of the deck… You really surprised us, at that time!"

"Yep," confirmed the blond girl while crossing her arms at the remembrance and nodding to Anne's comment, "You should have seen of how many centimetres the jaws of everyone on-board had unhooked, I didn't think it was humanly possible…"

_I am wondering about that every day since I entered this universe you know… the limits of the 'humanly possible' in this world… _sighed Fuu with a resigned expression.

"But you know Fuu," pursued Anne with a teasing tone, "I changed my mind about you, since then!"

"Changed your mind about Fuu?" repeated Nami, quite puzzled.

"I mean, I've always thought she was the cute and innocent type of girl, so I wasn't expecting her to use that kind of… diversion…" giggled Anne while sending a conniving wink to Fuu, who instantly became crimson red, "Well, even if the Admiral had kind of hinted it to you, hihihi…"

"A diversion strategy?" highlighted Nami, now curious about it.

Fuu started staring at Anne with supplicating eyes and her hands crossed in front of her chest as a silent signal, but the russet-haired pirate chose not to take the hint, and went back to her conversation with Nami.

"Yes, a very good strategy…" laughed Anne, "Can you imagine that, in order to hide to the Marines the fact that Ace was digging out the Kairoseki stone from her shoulder-blade, Fuu k…"

"Waaaah!" screamed Fuu, blushing furiously of shame, while dashing with panicking eyes to pin her hands on Anne's mouth.

_Waah, waaahhh, WAAAAAAHHHHH! Quiet, just keep quiet! I didn't think about it, at the time… The Admiral's words were just mingling with my rage and the pain from the wound, and I really didn't think about it! That wasn't anything meaningful, I didn't even THINK about it, so don't bring it up again! Quiet! QUIET!_

But the russet-haired pirate easily dodged the gag with an amused look for Fuu, and seemed to start continuing her story. So Fuu panicked even more, and suddenly throw a big bubble of milky water on Anne's mouth. The enchanted bubble then glued to the lips of the pirate, preventing her from speaking, nuisance which made the victim of the 'spell' frown, before finally silently giggling upon seeing the beat red cheeks of the attacker.

_Humph! No kidding! No way I would let someone speak about such an embarrassing thing! And it's out of the question than anyone else learns about it, too!_

"What?" asked Nami with a curious smile, more and more interested in the topic that had managed to make Fuu blush that much.

"Nothing, nothing at all!" answered Fuu with a strong voice and forcing a laugh, "Just… a misunderstanding…"

"Yare yare…" giggled Robin with a conniving smile for Fuu, her memory bringing back to the surface some blurred images of Fuu and Ace during the Buster Call.

**

* * *

ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE CURTAIN**

In the men bath, sitting on the lava-stone bench, just right to Ace, Marco has started chuckling.

"She said it was a misunderstanding…" laughed he in a compassionate tone, while patting Ace's shoulder.

"Just shut up!" mumbled Ace, quite annoyed, while averting his eyes.

Meanwhile, in the women bath, Fuu had finally released Anne from her 'spell', but only after having threatened her with a thousand deathly glares not to resume the conversation on its last topic.

"Hum…" giggled the russet-haired pirate, hardly repressing a burst of laughter when seeing the troubled expression of Fuu.

"Why don't you want to talk about it?" finally asked the short-haired girl, really surprised by Fuu's reaction and thus not able to keep quiet about it anymore, even if she didn't dare being more precise about the 'it' in question, by fear of retaliation, "You're a couple, aren't you?"

Upon hearing the word 'couple', Fuu instantly became scarlet – and it wasn't because of the hot bath – while Nami was staring at her with an incredulous expression. Robin only smiled faintly, but a huge hubbub busted from the men bath.

"N… no… no, we are… we're not…" babbled Fuu, her cheeks burning her like never before, and she started gazing at Nami and Anne with some desperate expression, as if looking for some help.

In the men bath, Fuu's denial had calmed down the racket. Sanji and Zoro had let go of Ace, the other pirates were now discussing their own chances with the angel-winged girl – heaving some deep sighs of disillusion from times to others – and Marco, laughing on the sly as usual when it was about this topic, was trying to cheer Ace up between two chuckles.

**

* * *

BACK TO THE WOMEN BATH**

Nami suddenly jumped on Fuu, seizing her by her shoulders.

"Fuu, don't worry! You have my stalwart support!" exclaimed Nami, a strange light glowing in her eyes, "If you are an item, don't hesitate in claiming it out loud!"

_Nami? What has gotten into her?_

"Hum… Nami?" interrogated Fuu, rather puzzled by her nakama's reaction, and glancing at Robin for her help.

"Don't take it too much to heart, Fuu. I believe she is insisting just because she thinks it would be easier to create a second couple once there will already be one in the family…" whispered Robin with her usual sagacious smile, making Nami blush a little at the comment.

_A second…? In the 'family'…? HEY ? Nami and Luffy are not OFFICIALLY together? Why? Is it also because we modified the Story? No, wait a second… If I recall correctly, my brother is 100% supporting the LuNa scenario, but I'm quite sure Oda-Sensei has never written anything romantic – expressly romantic – between them… So, now that I not in my brother's fan-fiction anymore but in the real Story – hum, rather an Alternative Universe coming from the original Story – I guess it makes sense that they are not together…_

_Hum, but I felt like they were really close… So they're close in the original Story? Oh, what the hell! Who cares about what the Story should be! It's about love: number one in my little list of things to protect and support at all cost, just before friends and promises… So who cares about the rest? Nami seems to love Luffy… So I will help her, even if I don't know what I can do for that, tsk… Now that I think about it, if they are not together yet, I guess it must be difficult for Nami, considering how clueless Luffy can be, hum…_

"So you're not a couple?" resumed the conversation Anne.

_That's what I just thought… tsk… No, wait a minute, Anne is staring… at ME? What the…_

And Fuu blushed anew when remembering about WHOM the conversation was about, and about WHO was supposed to be the couple in question. But she just clenched her lips tight and averted her eyes, not wanting to fight on the topic against Anne – who seemed to be as talented as Robin to embarrass people.

"Seriously not?" wondered Anne while gazing at Fuu with disbelief, and taking her silence as an explicit answer, "Weird… That's really the first time I see Ace caring that much about a girl…"

_Huh? _unconsciously reacted Fuu, her eyes wandering back on Anne with curiosity.

"Well, that's true… Usually, he avoids 'associating' with girls he knows…" admitted the blond girl, before specifying with some regretful tone, "Although nearly every one of us has tried to…"

"Well, of course! Ace is quite popular in the Fleet: he commands the Second Division, he's tall, incredibly powerful, good-looking, all built up, and he's very polite, and smiling a lot too… He's so sexy!" lost herself the short-haired girl with an expression full of admiration and probably more.

Of course, in the men bath, everyone was teasing Ace unmercifully, chuckling hard at each element of the description given by their black-haired nakama.

Back in the women bath, Fuu was gazing at the girl who had just spoken – and who unavoidably reminded her of some giggling fan-girl, even if she couldn't really say that – with a speechless expression.

_Wow… Ace is that popular with girls? It's true he's handsome, I mean, it even surprised me the first time I met him, and he wasn't even at his best advantage on this scaffold… Quite surprised, I must confess, because there's definitely not plenty of – if not zero –Ikemen in One Piece, especially from my Shoujo-reader point of view… But I don't know why, I wasn't expecting him to so adulated…_

"I confirm…" added the blond girl with a sigh of resignation, "Honestly, he could have all the girls he'd wish for… well NEARLY all…"

And the pirate gazed at Fuu with an amused look and an unequivocal smile.

"But unfortunately, it looks like he's dodging all relations risking to become serious! The 'not interested' style, kind of…" sighed the fair-haired girl while remembering the behaviour of their Second Commandant of Fleet with the fair sex in general.

_Pardon?_

"It's hard to imagine a pirate not interested in women…" declared Robin with smile, while thinking: _Although… we also have one on-board: a very handsome man more interested in training than in women!_

"Yep, hard to believe, right?" laughed Anne, "WhiteBeard, Marco and the others often hauled him by force to spend the night in dubious taverns, in order to celebrate their victories and everything… but even if he let them drag him off there, it almost feels like it's a chore for him, hihihi…"

"How lucky of them, these tavern girls…" grumbled the short-haired girl with a sulking expression.

TILT. In the men bath, Ace had startled at the mention of his one-night stands, before nose-diving in the blue-green water, internally laying a curse on the gossipers who were thus displaying his private life.

_Oh… with tavern girls… Of… of course… It's customary for pirates, after all! So… it's normal… that Ace would… _thought Fuu, definitely ill-at-ease, her eyes unconsciously falling on the milky bubbles of the bath and giving her an expression of abandoned kitten.

"Ooh? What's with this sulking expression?" teased Anne upon seeing Fuu's face, "Jealousy?"

"Of… of course not!" immediately retorted Fuu, her cheeks starting to burn up, "It… that's normal for pirates to associate with tavern girls, is it not…?"

**

* * *

IN THE MEANTIME, IN THE MEN BATH**

Marco had approached from Ace with a compassionate look.

"Come on… Don't make such a long face…" sighed he upon seeing Ace's disappointed expression, "Don't tell me you were hoping to hide to our cute little Fuu your past of experimented playboy, hum…"

"What playboy?" answered Ace while grinding his teeth, "Just to remind you: that was YOU and the others who always sent girls in my room after having made me drink like a fish…"

And Ace sighed of helplessness while gazing at the curtain separating the two baths.

"Oh, but that wasn't OUR fault if these girls were fighting to be sent in your room…" mocked Marco with a contemptuous smile.

"Tsk…" screeched Ace, vexed.

"And if I remember correctly, you've refused to accompany us in this kind of taverns for several months, now… hum… since Marine Ford, to be more precise… We really wonder for what reason… or rather… for who, hum?" added Marco in a conniving whisper for Ace, who just averted his eyes without answering, hiding a beginning of blush in the shadow of his wet hair.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the curtain, the three girls part of Marco's team were also giggling while teasing one of their friends, pursuing their provocations with enthusiasm in order to see how many more degrees on the scale from pink to scarlet could climb up Fuu.

"That's true that nights in dubious taverns are a prerequisite for pirates!" was adding Anne with a playful smile.

"Yep, I don't think a pirate worth his reputation would make exception: a girl in each harbour, as goes the saying! All men are like that!" chimed in the blond girl while repressing a laugh.

"If a man is inexperienced, his crew won't respect him, for sure! Especially for a Commandant of division or a Captain!" completed the short-haired girl while nodding actively to corroborate her point.

_I know all of that! No need for rubbing salt on the wound… Huh, wound? Which wound? HEY? What am I talking about, come on? Ace's nightly affairs do not concern me! It does… not… concern… me… AAH! Why do I feel concerned…?_

"That's a lie!" suddenly shouted Nami, stopping the little round of provocations.

And everyone's look started converging towards Nami's face, which was bent to gaze at the water surface.

"All men are not like that!" added she when finally raising her eyes again, "The ones I know are not like that!"

_Nami?_

"Of course they are!" laughed the fair-haired pirate, "All men are really like that, and the Mugiwaras are no exception! Let's just take the example of your blond cook…"

"Sa… Sanji is special…" retorted Nami, starting to tremble under doubt, but standing her ground.

_Nami? Why is she… who… Luffy? Could she be worrying about Luffy?_

"Hum, not only your cook, I think…" pursued the short-haired girl, "Your green-haired swordsman also seems to have known girls before… and even if he behaves like a kid, your captain also must have…"

"THAT'S A LIE!" shouted Nami while standing up out of the water, "Lu… Luffy is not like that!"

"Hum, Nami, I think they're just saying that because…" began Fuu, a bit worried by the violent reaction of denial of her friend, but she was cut in the middle of her sentence by yells coming from the men bath.

"Mugiwara, you frequent dubious taverns, for real?" was asking a pirate while staring at Luffy with a face that could had had 'disbelief' written in bold on it.

"Of course! We're going there quite often, with Zoro and the others, it's part of a pirate life!" was answering Luffy with his usual grin.

"Oy, Luffy, they don't mean going and have a drink…" had wanted to speak Zoro, but Sanji was already on him to order him to confess if they had dared to meet with beautiful tavern girls without him.

The noise of their fight covered the rest of Luffy's explanation, and left Nami white as a sheet in the women bath.

"Hum, Nami…?" worried Fuu while standing up slowly, putting her hand on her friend's shoulder to softly call her back to her senses.

But suddenly, a spark of resolve switched on in Nami's eyes.

In a storm that lasted a mere 4 or 5 seconds, she put her feet on the lava-stone wall, dashing off the whirlpool bath despite Fuu who was trying to hold her back, and walked towards the men bath. She fiercely draw the curtain, under the dumbfounded expression of the pirates present on the other side, jumped in the resting bath and sprinted straight to her captain. And regardless of Fuu who was still trying to bring her back in the women bath by pulling her by her waist, she found her way until her target, pounced on her knees to be at his level, and caught him by his shoulders.

"Luffy! Is it true what you just said about the taverns?" asked Nami while looking straight in his eyes, her own expression torn between anger and despair.

SHIN. Speechless, Luffy was gazing at his navigator who had made irruption into the men bath, half-naked, to ask him something so unimportant.

"Nami, calm down, you'll ask him that later! Come back to the other bath, please!" asked Fuu, catching her nakama's arm, while glancing worriedly at the other pirates present in the second bath.

Sanji had collapsed in his own nosebleed, his eyes in twirling heart-shape at the sight of two of his goddesses. Zoro and Marco seemed puzzled, not knowing what to do with the two intruders. Ace's expression was indistinguishable. Chopper and Usopp were currently doing an apnea contest and had not realized the problem yet. But the rest of the pirates present – especially Marco's crewmates – were staring at them pervertedly.

And Fuu knew by experience that some of them were of the kind to bounce on anything that had two slender legs and boobs – _let's pass on someone as sexy as Nami _– never minding the fact that they had been sailing for several weeks now, and couldn't have visited the aforementioned 'taverns' recently.

"Nami, come on…" whispered Fuu, pulling a little stronger her friend's arm, but in vain.

But Nami was still staring at Luffy with an unwavering look.

"Nami…" finally spoke Luffy, "You should go back in the girls bath."

Nami's face instantly crumbled in front of the harsh gaze Luffy was giving her, but she shook her head and kept her position.

"Luffy, have you frequented dubious taverns with Zoro or Sanji?" repeated Nami, her voice starting to quiver.

"Nami, go back to the other bath!" got worked up Luffy.

"Answer me!" cried Nami, as if ready to burst into tears.

"Yeah, I already went to taverns with the others, at Whisky Peak, or Alabasta, or anywhere else…. I answered you, so now go back on the other side of the curtain!" ordered Luffy, really on the nerves.

But Nami couldn't hear him anymore; her mind had just gone blank…

_Nami… _thought Fuu with a compassionate look, but her attention was suddenly caught by some pirates elbowing each other and whispering in their back.

"Nami, we need to go back, hurry up!" begged Fuu while pulling harder on her nakama's arm.

But Nami violently shake off her arm, sending Fuu backward in a splash of milky water. Fuu coughed a bit and shook away some of her wet hair curls, and glanced at her friend.

_Grr… I know how heart-broken you must feel, but we'll have a talk about it later… I really don't like the light we can see in the eyes of some pirates here: they look just like a pack of wolves having caught sight of a tasty beefsteak… And I have no special interest for understanding the point of view of the aforementioned steak… Besides, I would rather not use my magic shield on allies!_

Heaving a deep sigh, Fuu somehow got back on her feet and emerged from the water to walk towards Nami again. But she nearly instantly remarked that something was off: the lecherous light in the pirates eyes had intensified and they were now viciously staring at Fuu's body-shape under her soaked white towel.

_Damn it… This towel is worse than translucent… I should have stayed under the cover of the whitish-blue water… Grr, I don't care anymore: the first of these damned perverts who comes near us will receive an electric spark!_

But Fuu saw with some uneasiness that the pirates had started moving, slowly and discreetly surrounding her, but also Nami, and eyeing the tie of their towels with definitely up-to-no-good expressions.

_What a jinx! Nami, time out… _thought Fuu while reaching her hand towards Nami, determined to get her back by force if needed.

But as if something had been triggered among the wolves – correction: the pirates – they suddenly stood up to dash towards the two intruders.

_Ugh…_

But at the very moment the perverts hold out their hands towards Fuu, a screen of flames furiously busted out between the girl and the pirates, and Fuu felt an arm wrapping itself around her waist to pull her out of reach from the lecherous wolves.

"Enjomo!" chimed in the voice of the one who had attracted her on to him.

_Wh… Ace?_

Ace had straightaway risen out of the water and seized Fuu with his left arm to pull her away from her attackers. He had pinned her against the lava-stone wall, using his own body as a shield between the girl and the perverted pirates. His chest entirely rose above the level of water, and he was back to his opponents.

His impressive built, adding up to the tattoo on his bare back, to the deathly glare in his eyes, and to the flames still burning up in his right hand, gradually daunted all the others to draw nearer.

"Ace…" whispered Fuu, both surprised and grateful, before realizing:

_B.. but, but… He's… Waaah, why is he… why the hell is he entirely NAKED? Wh… Why? Why didn't the little beaver give them towels too? WAAAH, he can't just press himself against me like that! Of course the water is opaque, but… but… that's SHAMEFUL at a lethal level! L… let go of me, baka!_

On their side, unaffected by the chaos around Fuu and Ace, Nami and Luffy were still facing each other, unflinching, Nami gazing at the milky water with a lifeless expression, and Luffy staring at Nami with an annoyed face.

"Nami, go back to the women bath!" repeated once more Luffy.

"Why? Why would it matter?" asked Nami in an absent tone, her voice still blank from what she had just learned.

"Everyone is looking at you." announced Luffy, dead serious.

"So what? I'll facture them a Paradise Punch later on…" answered Nami with a monochord tone, but despite mentioning money, her usual energy wasn't there.

"I don't want to!" declared Luffy, unflappable, "Go back to the other bath."

"I'll add it to you debt or take it from your share of future treasures…" said Nami, still out of it.

"I don't care about that! What I don't want to, it's seeing all these guys staring at you, so go back on the other side of the curtain!" insisted Luffy with an annoyed tone.

TILT. Upon hearing the comment, Nami's eyes rekindled.

"What… did you say?" asked she while raising her eyes to look straight at Luffy.

"I said I don't like guys staring at you with this kind of thoughts, so I don't want you to appear in that kind of outfit in front of them! Go back to the women bath… please!" concluded Luffy with a tone shared between the order and the supplication.

"Luffy!" smiled Nami, overjoyed, before pouncing on him and pressing her lips on her captain's.

Surprise merely lasted one second, and Luffy quickly hastened to run his fingers in the orange hair of his navigator to pull her on to him and answer her with a passionate kiss, under the flabbergasted faces of the spectators.

And finally, amidst the unhooked jaws and speechless expressions, an army of duplicated arms emerged from the perverted pirates and neutralized them while blinding them.

"Ocho Fleurs: Clutch." pronounced the one responsible of the painful counterattack on the pack of wolves, from the outskirts of the curtain separating the two baths.

"Robin!" exclaimed Fuu with a relieved smile.

"Fuu, I am really sorry for interrupting such an arousing situation…" began Robin with a very allusive smile for her interlocutor, smile which made Fuu and Ace glance at each other before blushing furiously, "But it is time to leave the hot springs: the innkeeper has called for lunch."

The archaeologist then looked at the two idiots still kissing with a passion and a lack of decency so peculiar to first attachments.

"Oh, and if could retrieve Kokkaishi-san on your way back…" added she with an amused smile.


	5. Ch 3: The Ice Palace

**THE DAY THE BENDED STORY OF ONE PIECE GOT MINGLED WITH THE SNOWS OF TIME**

…

Welcome to the Ice Palace

…

**FIMBUL, BEAVERS'S INN**

The Mugiwaras and Marco's team had now finished changing after bath time, and men and women met in the inn living room. Of course, awkwardness was palpable!

For starters, Ace and Fuu blushed and looked away when their eyes met each other.

In contrast, Luffy and Nami were happily holding hands while exchanging stupid grins, and one could nearly see little hearts fluttering around them in persistence of vision.

Robin and Zoro didn't seem unduly affected, but Sanji looked rather depressed, as if he had been pulled back into some deranging reality, small dark will-o'-the-wisps floating around him.

The three girls from Marco's team were still giggling, commenting the blush that had appeared on Fuu's blush when they had asked her – back in the changing room – why Ace was the only one not receiving an electric spark when he was holding her on to him.

Marco was also teasing Ace, asking him how the big brother was bearing with seeing his little brother outstripping him in love affairs, and Ace to retort that the innkeeper will have some roasted phoenix to add to his menu if he didn't shut up.

Still ignorant of the reason of the weird ambiance, Usopp and Chopper were happily commenting their first hot spring experience, while the rest of the troop – not ignorant, them – had chosen to pretend not to know anything, a bit shameful and embarrassed by what had happened, and also a bit scared by the remembrance of Robin's hands crushing their spins.

"Have you appreciated the hot springs?" diligently asked the beaver-innkeeper when coming to meet the pirates.

"Oh, I think everyone rather… enjoyed… it!" answered Marco with a playful smile.

"Do you now wish to have something to eat?" asked the innkeeper with an amiable smile, "Lunch is ready!"

"Food!" exclaimed Luffy, his mouth already starting salivating, the mention of food having made him leave his fluffy-pinky little lovely sphere.

And following Luffy's enthusiast injunction, the little group sat down around the table in the inn large and wooden dining room.

And in a very joyful ambiance, everyone forgot the previous episode, and enjoyed with delight the different dishes that the beaver waitresses were bringing them, toasting with some strong honey-flavoured ale.

Kampais were chiming across the dining room, and the beavers were soon enough invited to join the party by Luffy. On their side, Usopp and Chopper were asking the employees if they had some chopsticks and baskets – probably hoping to do their usual thing – Zoro was reloading his body with huge jars of honey alcohol, and Nami was clinking glasses with Luffy, overjoyed.

Well, smiles on everyone's faces…

"For our beaver friends: KAMPAI!" shouted Luffy while lifting his tankard, followed by the rest of the table.

"KAMPAI!" shouted the whole group of pirates in honour of their hosts.

And amidst the people gulping down their glasses, Robin noticed the moved expression of the innkeeper on her right and smiled to him.

"They're always like this…" explained she with a touched smile.

"Yes, this human is a good person!" admitted the beaver while gazing at Luffy with a moved grin, "It reminds me of the parties in honour of our Highness…"

"Your King?" said Robin.

"Yes… His fur shining with a thousand golden glows under the summer sun! It really is an image that every inhabitant of this island keeps in their heart…" recounted the beaver.

"So it's not always winter here?" asked Robin, surprised.

"Oh, no! Before the Que…" began the beaver before choking in the middle of his sentence and worriedly glancing at Robin, aware to have already said too much.

But Robin understood that the innkeeper didn't wish to pursue the topic and didn't press on. And a burst of laughter coming from the other side of the table diverted the conversation: Luffy had just fallen asleep between two Kampais, a big bubble of sleepiness inflating and deflating at his nostril.

"Don't fall asleep like that!" shouted the other pirates, their eyes bulging out of their sockets, their hands lifted straight to show their disapprobation.

"Zzz…" kept sleeping Luffy, despite Nami shacking him to wake him up.

"Heehee, what a handful, really…" began Ace, a tankard in his hand, before collapsing himself the cheek on the table and starting snoring.

"HEY! Not you too!" shouted the spectators with the same gawk expression.

_Oh my, what a family! _thought Fuu while repressing a little laugh to stare at the two sleeping brothers,_ Is it even possible in our world, such an extreme narcolepsy?_.

"Hey, Fuu!" called Marco while drawing near to her, "Do you want me to show you a fool-proof method to wake Ace up when he's doing that?"

Fuu stared at Marco's confident smile with a doubtful expression.

"An infallible method to wake him up? Really?" repeated Fuu, her head slightly bent on the side with a bewildered look, perfectly remembering that no one had managed to do that before, and that it was precisely the main problem of Ace's narcolepsy.

"Yeah!" answered Marco while pinching hard Ace's cheek, but without any reaction from the sleeper, "It looks rather impossible, but I'm ready to bet everything that it will work! It's the result of countless observations: look!"

And Marco bent over the sleeping face of Ace, moving his lips closer and closer to the sleeper's ear, and whispered in a tone so low that only Ace could hear it: _Ace, Roronoa had caught Fuu in his arms and is about to kiss her…_

BONG. Ace's head had risen so brutally that it had hit Marco's chin violently, and they were now both massaging their bruises while muttering swearwords.

Marco then observed Ace turning his head towards Zoro with fury animating his eyes, before realizing Fuu was near him and gazing at him with amazement. Ace thus stared at Marco with a deathly glare and his nakama crooked a smile, easily dodging Ace's counterattack to grin at Fuu and give her a thumb up to mark his victory.

_Wow… It really worked! _thought Fuu, admiring Marco's success, _I wonder what he could have told Ace… Hum, but they really should try and not do it too often, if they don't want to face myriads of Yaoi fans screaming 'Moe Moe' while immortalizing the scene of the murmur at his ear into some fluttering roses frame…_

SHIN. But silence suddenly fell when everyone noticed a little beaver employee trembling and shaking at the doorstep of the dining room.

The innkeeper stood up and went to see what was happening.

"Hum… A… a letter has come for you from the Palace…" muttered the beaver innkeeper when finally coming back to the pirates.

And the innkeeper held the aforementioned letter to the pirates, hardly repressing his little paws from trembling. Marco, Ace and Zoro looked at each other with a puzzled look, and glanced back at Luffy, who was still fluttering in a pinky bubble with Nami. The three guys heaved a deep sigh and Ace finally took the letter.

"Thank you very much, Beaver-san!" smiled politely WhiteBeard's Second Commander, and the innkeeper bowed slightly before slipping away at high speed.

Ace unsealed the letter and unfolded it, and Marco, Zoro, Robin and Fuu draw closer to read it.

In short, amidst plenty of polite formulas, the Ice Queen was inviting them to come and dine with her the very same evening, and will send them an escort to take them to the Palace.

_A Queen… not a King? _thought Robin when remembering her conversation with the beaver innkeeper.

"An escort? Without even waiting for our answer?" screeched Zoro with a frowning expression.

"That is for sure a very polite way of saying she won't admit us to refuse her invitation." answered Robin with a weary sigh.

"It's rather weird for a Queen to invite pirates to dine at her Palace…" commented Marco while scratching his head.

"And rather suspicious that citizens tremble of fear when they receive a letter from their sovereign…" added Ace while glancing at the inn staff who had hidden behind the door, not daring to step in anymore.

"You think that's related with the Log Pose?" hesitated Fuu, her hand on her chin, "Do you remember what the beaver said about the time we'll need to spend on the island: that it depended on the Queen! But Nami said magnetic waves can't depend on human will…"

"So it's likely that the time needed to leave does not relate to the Log Pose update but rather to the whim of the Queen…" concluded Ace, taking the remark seriously.

"You mean… as if she was detaining travellers in her Palace and only let them go when she desire so?" tried Robin, rummaging her memories to find some information about Fimbul, some references, some gossips, but in vain.

"We never know, let's not let our garde down!" declared Zoro with a suspicious glare for the royal crest on the letter.

"Well, it would be wisest to just refuse the offer." proposed Marco while crossing his arms, "I mean, we're pirates and all, not the kind of person you can just give orders to!"

Fuu glanced back at the beavers at the doorstep and saw them getting paler and paler under their furs at the mention of refusing the Queen's invitation.

"I'm afraid it's not just about us anymore…" whispered she, making the others similarly concerned about their hosts, and about what would happen if the escort didn't find the pirates upon coming at the inn this evening.

"In any case…" cut Robin while seizing the letter in Ace's arms, "We need to explain the situation to our Senchou…"

The five interlocutors thus turned back towards Luffy, Nami and the others – their captain still in lovey-dovey mode, as long as Luffy could act lovey-dovey – and heaved another deep sigh.

"Okay! I'll take care of it!" mumbled Zoro, snatching the letter in Robin's hands to walk towards their nakamas.

The swordsman rounded up the rest of the Mugiwaras and presented them the letter, the main topic of it, and their doubts about the Queen's intentions, but the audience seemed to have stopped mid-way his explanation.

"Diner?" was already salivating Luffy, "Of course we're going!"

_We just finished eating, Luffy… _thought Fuu, a big drop of weariness appearing on her temple.

"The Queen must be rich! I'm sure she doesn't need all of her treasures…" giggled Nami, her eyes in Berry-shape and some sly fox ears appearing on her head.

_Yare yare… _sighed Robin, already used to this kind of reaction.

"A beautiful Queen personally inviting us? Oh, my lovely Queen…" was already fantasizing Sanji, the piece of news having made him recover from his depression.

BAM. Ace had slapped his own forehead with his hand in front of such a blatant lack of perspicacity from the cook, who was losing all of his sagacity as long as a woman was involved.

"A Palace? GREAT!" exclaimed Chopper and Usopp with star-shaped eyes, before beginning imagining stories about it and growing even more engrossed by them.

TILT. A vein dangerously started bulging on Zoro's forehead.

"They didn't follow a thing…" mumbled the swordsman while clenching his teeth of pique, and resuming his explanation once again: "Listen, it's possible that the Queen is…"

"Sometimes, I feel like there are only few sensible people in Mugiwara's crew…" confessed Marco when pointing at the little comical troop with his finger.

"Probably… But that is also what makes travelling with them so interesting!" admitted Robin with a faint smile.

"I agree for the 'interesting' part, but… We should maybe go and help Zoro out of it before he cracks up…" put forward Fuu when pointing out at the numerous veins that had appeared on the swordsman's temples at each of his vain attempts to explain the implied meaning of the Queen's letter to Luffy.

"No, he'll manage it alone!" retorted Ace with a sly tone, crossing his arms in front of his chest and flatly ignoring the request.

_Tsk… _sulked Fuu upon hearing his answer, _What's with this? I don't know why, but Ace seems to dislike Zoro… Why? I mean, Ace is not the kind of person to dislike someone on a whim, so… Oh, or could it be because…?_

"Ace," began Fuu while rising her eyes to look straight at WhiteBeard's Second Commander, "Respecting to Zoro, could it be that you are… jealous?"

CRASH. Ace chocked in his own stupefaction and blushed furiously in answer to the question.

He averted his eyes before finally bringing them back on the determined face of Fuu, while Marco was whistling joyfully, quite amused by the unexpected turn of events.

"Y… Wh… why would… Where is that coming from?" finally retorted Ace, deeply embarrassed.

"Well…" paused Fuu, thinking back to find memories supporting her supposition, "Up until now, I thought you weren't the type to compete for someone affection, but…"

_Waaaaaahhh! Why is she so perceptive, all of a sudden? _panicked Ace, instinctively looking away, definitely ill-at-ease, _She's always been very dense every time I'm teasing her on this topic… She never noticed a thing, and I KNOW it wasn't just pretending not to notice…_

_Even if she always blushes in answer, she thinks I'm just provoking her… So if she has understood now… if she has guessed… how come she can speak about it without blushing at all? How come she talks about it in front of everyone as if it was nothing? It's… is it nothing for her? _thought he with a faint bitter taste spreading in his mouth.

"But," pursued Fuu while staring at Ace with a moody sulking expression, "I didn't think you would have a brother complex!"

CRASH. Ace – and Marco – had collapsed on the floor, and Robin was hardly repressing a laugh.

"You know, even if Zoro is Luffy's first crewmate, and even if he is always watching over your little brother and trying to take him out of the mess Luffy usually puts himself into, I'm sure that, for Luffy, his only big brother is you, Ace! So you don't need to compete on this point and try and show to everyone that you're more dependable than Zoro!" kept on Fuu while glancing in turn at Zoro, Luffy, then Ace, "Ace, are you at least listening to me?"

"Yeah yeah, I heard you…" mumbled Ace while getting back on his feet, knocking out a still-laughing-Marco with a backward punch.

_Tsk… _thought Ace while digging back his hat on his head, _Should I clarify the situation or consider myself happy that she is THAT dense? Really, this girl is just too much! Well… but then, I guess that's because she is like this that I l… her…_

Ace smiled faintly and bent over Fuu to murmur something in her ear, but sudden hits knocked on the inn's door prevented him from doing so.

"Upon order of the Queen Jadis, we have come to escort the travellers!" raised the icy metallic voice of two royal guards, "Will you kindly step out."

"Hum, they're already there? We're not even in the middle of the afternoon… Seems like our Queen doesn't wish to let us the chance to refuse her invitation…" noticed Marco, before turning back to his team and give them his instructions: to stay there and warn the ships if we are not back tonight.

"You're coming with us?" asked Ace with a slightly surprised tone.

"Well, I can accompany a bunch of fools, from times to others…" joked Marco with an amused glance for the Mugiwaras.

"Yosh, let's go!" exclaimed Luffy with an overjoyed expression, already quite hyped about the little trip to the Palace.

**

* * *

FIMBUL, BLACK MOUNTAINS**

Less than an hour later, the little group composed of the Mugiwaras, Fuu, Ace and Marco had reached the imposing Palace of the Queen of Fimbul.

Hanging on the vertical side of the black rocks, the immense structure of chiselled ice looked like a silver cathedral. A bottom-less abyss separated the isolated mountain recess where had been built the Palace from the rest of the snowy mountain, and the only way over it was the drawbridge of translucent bluish ice that they crossed under the 'invitation' of the royal guards.

"WOW!" exclaimed Luffy, his mouth wide open, when reaching the colossal doors of the Ice Palace, "GREAT!"

Even without being Luffy – or Usopp or Chopper – one had to admit that the Palace of the Queen was impressive: the whole building was glowing with greatness, magnified by the eerie light that seemed to emanate from the ice.

"So… beautiful!" exclaimed Nami and Fuu in unison.

_Though not really heart-warming… _added Fuu for herself, _And why do I have this feeling of déjà-vu? I don't remember having read something looking like that in One Piece already, hum…_

The two royal guards – which resembled heavy ice plate armours devoid of life – put their hands on the two immense parts of the double door, and let the guests of the Queen in.

Still impressed by the surrounding setting, the pirates walked along the gigantic and prodigiously high-ceiling entrance hall, and followed the guards across a maze of corridors to reach the Royal Courtroom.

"What's the matter?" asked Ace upon gazing at Fuu's sullen face.

"Oh, hum… Nothing important, just…" began Fuu in a whisper, _Just a very persistent impression of déjà-vu, but I can't say that, can I… _"Just that it's not very warm, this ambiance: even the furniture is made of ice…"

"Hum… Do you want me to warm you up?" teased Ace while crooking a smile.

"Baka…" sighed Fuu, who had started to get used to his provocations, but still made a sidestep while trying to repress a blush.

"The Queen Jadis!" chanted the icy voice of the guards, when introducing the little troop to the Queen.

"Be welcome!" announced the Queen sitting on an ice throne at the centre of the Royal Courtroom.

… _KIREII! _thought Nami and Fuu at the same time, while Sanji was fainting of dazed happiness at the same thought.

The Queen Jadis had skin the colour of the snow, eyes the colour of pale sapphires, long white gold hair elegantly streaming on delicate shoulders adorned by brooches which held a heavy cape of white fur around her. Her feet-length antique dress the colour of blue silver was gracefully glittering when she stretched her arm in a welcoming gesture.

_Wow… Wooooooowwww! Kireii! She really looks like a queen as we represent them in History books or story Tales… It even looks a bit off for this world… _muttered Fuu while contemplating the beautiful Queen.

Everyone introduced themselves: Ace with his most polite bow – as usual – Marco with very respectful formulas, Sanji with plenty of compliments – as expected – Zoro with a groan when Robin introduced him at the same time as herself – knowing the swordsman won't take the pain to do it himself – Usopp and Chopper with impressive lies and easy believer – as usual – Luffy with his most my-pace tone – as usual too – and Fuu surprising everyone with a gracious curtsey.

_It… it looked weird? Oh my, don't tell me you don't curtsey in front of Royalty in this world? Did it look that strange?_

"I am delighted to see you have accepted my invitation." finally softly declaimed the Queen with a charming smile that liquefied Sanji and made Zoro glare at her even more suspiciously, "Dinner will be served in several hours. Although I can not unfortunately keep company with you until then, my servants have prepared comfortable apartments for you, as well as adequate garments for tonight… Please consider yourselves the precious guests of this Ice Palace."

And with a slight head bow from the Queen, the guards lead the way out of the Royal Courtroom to the royal apartments, leaving plenty of time to everyone to comment the encounter.

Luffy was still exclaiming 'Great!' with Usopp and Chopper at each new room they were crossing. Nami was now obliged to drag on the floor a Sanji who had deflated of happiness and was drooling on the ground, with hearts twirling around his head. Zoro and Robin were discussing with low voice their first impressions on the Queen. Marco was elbowing Ace while asking him how much he had liked the Queen, discreetly eyeing Fuu's expression to his innuendo and hoping to detect jealousy on her face. But Fuu wasn't really paying attention to his provocation, distracted by what was displaying beyond the stained glass windows made of ice panels.

She suddenly froze and stared at the scenery stretching under their field of vision.

"I beg your pardon, what part of the Palace can we see from this window?" asked she to the guard without averting her eyes from the snowy silhouettes in tilt-up beyond the icy glass.

"This section is actually the private garden of our Highness the Queen." answered the metallic voice of the lifeless armour.

"Hum…" muttered Fuu, troubled, still gazing at the ice statues she could now distinguish in the snowy garden.

The guards then unlocked the doors opening on the wide suite that the Queen had made prepared for them. Immense four-poster beds, wardrobe filled with evening goats and tuxedos, chiselled folding screens, eerie white fur sofas… Everything was glowing from the same bluish ice, and Fuu couldn't help shivering despite the beauty of the setting.

The guards let the guests in and left, the sound of their metallic feet on the frosty ice floor quieting down.

"So, what did you think?" began Zoro, his eyes still on alert.

"Nothing disturbing… for now…" sighed Marco while shrugging his shoulders.

"I didn't feel anything strange…" agreed Robin with a perplexed expression.

"This Queen seems a bit too much used to have everyone obeying her, but I didn't see anything dangerous…" added Ace while scratching his neck.

"Hum, I don't know why, but… I feel like something is amiss…" muttered Fuu, as if speaking to herself.

Everyone's eyes converged towards her.

"Your intuition?" asked Zoro, whose instinct was also telling him not to let his garde down.

"Or something you know… but we ignore…" added Robin with a gaze seeming to pierce through Fuu's secrets.

"Hum… Not to that extent, Robin…" answered Fuu with a drop of trouble appearing on her temple.

_Until what point has Robin spied on the conversation between my brother and me? Hum, at that time, we had mainly spoken about my Hoshi Hoshi no Mi, and also about the temporal paradoxes… But I don't think she could have learned that we are not from this world; after all, there is no need for us to remind each other about a fact we are both perfectly aware of, already…_

Fuu glanced at her nakamas: Luffy was joyfully punching into the ice beds pillows, laughing with star-shaped eyes when seeing them instantly reforming themselves after the hit; Usopp and Chopper were stretching the covers, wondering how it could be so warm and soft when it looked like snow, and ended up playing ghosts with them on their heads; Nami was already comparing the antique style pleated dresses hang up in the wardrobes, and Sanji was commenting with admiration how each outfit would look _marvellous _on his dear _Nami-swan_.

In short, nothing out of the ordinary…

"I don't even know myself why, but this place is making me shudder… And it's not only because of the cold…" admitted Fuu while walking towards the ice window to gaze at the ice garden displaying beyond the stained glass.

**

* * *

ICE PALACE, BANQUET ROOM, SEVERAL HOURS LATER**

"Would you please!" invited Queen Jadis with an amiable gesture, from where she was sitting at one end of a long table of translucent ice.

The pirates were still at the doorstep, all of them dressed to the ninth in the sumptuous garments the Queen had asked her servants to prepare for them. Firstly suspicious about the offer – or too frozen with cold to consider changing clothes – the ten pirates had finally been convinced by the eerie softness of the outfits, by their stunning whiteness, and above all by the fact that they were exceptionally warm for so thin a fabric.

Nami, Robin and Fuu were now wearing feet-length white pleated dresses, which were making them resemble Grecian statues, and only their jewel belts were adorned by gems of different colours: red-orange for Nami, night-blue for Robin, and iridescent-white for Fuu.

Sanji and Marco had put on with earnest enthusiasm their tuxedos white and cream, going as far as smartly folding a silk pocket square to match their cummerbunds.

Ace had also quickly changed: officially saying that he was used to this kind of get-up since he had infiltrated a Marine base and dressed up as an officer there, unofficially after seeing Fuu warmly complimenting Marco and Sanji, and telling them with a radiant smile that they looked _Kakkoi_.

Zoro had of course refused categorically to submit to the process, but had changed his mind – deeply vexed – when Robin had mentioned that denoting at the dinner would only make him look suspicious, and that if he wanted to observe the Queen, it would be more efficient to go unnoticed.

The three girls had then searched for an outfit matching the plush size of Chopper – this form being decidedly too cute for Nami and Fuu to agree on letting Chopper grow – and they had finally found some shirts, vest and pants in a wardrobe full of children-size clothes.

On his side, Usopp had associated several pieces of garments that the tailors should have definitely not made to wear them all together, and the result was kind of lacking, but that wasn't the main problem.

The main problem had been Luffy, who had decided to wear a sleeveless vest without shirt under it, and had rolled the ends of his tuxedo pants until the knees: the result being the image of his usual outfit, but white. Nami had of course tried to make him wear something formal – probably also hoping to show off her really smart-looking new boyfriend – but Luffy had ranted that the clothes smelled weird and that it wasn't _comfy _at all to eat and run around, and that it wasn't that important. Fuu had also gave up on it, and Nami had finally heaved a deep sigh and sulked in her corner, before finally remembering the jewel box on the dressing table and disappear behind the folding screen.

So thus was the line-up of the ten pirates when they entered the banquet hall.

"Please, do be sited." graciously proposed Queen Jadis, her servants pulling the chairs behind each of her guests.

"Wow!" marvelled Luffy, salivating with impatience at the sight of all the dishes presented on the table, "Itadakimasu!"

And Luffy's shout started the dinner, his elastic arms stretching in all directions to grab some food and bring it back to his mouth at full speed.

BONG. Nami's fist had rung on her right neighbour's head, leaving a bump around a filled elastic mouth, under the world-weary expression of everyone else.

"Behave properly!" ranted she before smiling an apologetic to the Queen.

"Oh, please, do not concern yourself and enjoy this dinner to its fullest." smiled Queen Jadis, seemingly not bothered by the lack of etiquette of the Mugiwaras.

And dinner went amidst bursts of laughter and the chiming of empty plates. From times to others, Zoro and the others were eyeing the Queen, but nothing looked suspicious.

Queen Jadis even readily made a demonstration of her own power when frosting the cups of hydromel a waiter had brought, before serving them to her guests, the entire process with a charming smile from the Queen, star-shaped eyes from Luffy, Chopper and Usopp, and a slight admiring whistle from Marco and Ace.

"So you have the power of a Devil Fruit, your Highness?" inquired Marco.

"A Fruit of Ice? Well, Aokiji has already a Logia of Ice, but why not…" remarked Ace, quite perplexed.

"My guests often highlight it, but my power is not coming from what you call an Akuma no Mi." graciously explained the Queen.

"Oh, so you often have guests dining here?" asked Usopp between two mouthfuls, but without waiting for the answer because Luffy had stolen some meat in his plate and he started fighting with his captain over it.

"I kind of understood that the inhabitants of this island are all animal," began Robin with a casual tone, but still looking straight into the Queen's eyes, "Could it be that you invited us because we are humans?"

Queen Jadis slightly startled at the question, but quickly recovered her countenance.

"Certainly." finally answered the Queen with a beautiful smile, "I am always particularly glad to welcome Daughters of Eve and Sons of Adam in this Palace."

SHRRR. Fuu nearly coughed back the sip of hydromel – cut with plenty of water – she was drinking, and Zoro softly pat her back to help her breathe, a bit worried, before asking if he should call Chopper over.

But Ace pulled Fuu by her arm to bring her away from the swordsman's hands, and sparks started bursting forth between them, silently, right above Fuu's head, even if she wasn't paying attention at all.

_Daughters of Eve? Impossible! I know where I have heard this idiom before, but… it's not possible… _thought she while recovering her breathe.

"Sons of Adam?" had paused Luffy, bending his head on the side in a puzzled expression, his mouth full of food.

"It's coming from an ancient legend." explained Robin with a faint smile for their captain, "The story tells that the first human man on this earth was called Adam, and the first human woman Eve. That legend is not commonly known but it would indeed make every one of us Children of Adam and Eve."

"No, that's wrong." refuted Luffy while turning his head towards the Queen, "My father is called Dragon!"

"Yeah, and mine is called Yasopp, you know…" added Usopp, confused too and scratching his head.

"And for me?" asked Chopper, full of hope to join the conversation.

"We said humans…" sighed Zoro.

"The only one I would ever consider my father is WhiteBeard!" claimed Ace with a determined light in his eyes.

"Not true, Ace!" sulked Luffy, crossing his arms, "Your father, it's Gold Roger!"

"WHAT?" shouted in unison the rest of the Mugiwaras, their jaws more or less unhooked and their eyes bulging more or less from their sockets.

_They didn't read the newspaper at all, these past months, or something? _wondered Fuu with a drop of weariness at her temple, while gazing at the Mugiwaras looking at Ace in disbelief.

"Ah, but it was supposed to be a secret!" suddenly remembered Luffy while massaging his chin.

"Hum, Luffy… Sengoku announced it to all the media of the Five Seas at Marine Ford, so I don't think you can consider it a secret anymore…" sighed Fuu, shared between laughter in front of Luffy's expression and anger at the remembrance of the way Sengoku had treated Ace on this particular topic.

"Wow, your pops is really Gold Roger?" asked Sanji to Ace while taking a drag at his cigarette.

Ace averted his eyes and slightly nodded, before focusing on his plate with a sulking and annoyed expression.

"Ace doesn't like to talk about it…" whispered Marco at Sanji.

"Hum…" agreed Sanji, deciding not to insist on the topic more than that.

But the rest of the table didn't seem so eager to drop the subject.

"Wow, Luffy, your Niisan is someone important!" whistled Usopp with an amazed expression.

"To imagine that we have brought together on the same ship the four people the World Government is wishing to see the most dead…" faintly smiled Robin with a glance for Luffy, Ace and Fuu.

"Even so, I thought the Marines had hunted the Five Seas for potential children of the Pirate King. And I remember they arrested a lot of women, back then, right after Gold Roger execution…" remembered Zoro with a baffled expression.

Fuu saw Ace clench his fists until they turn white around his fork and knife.

She gazed at Ace's face and saw the pain of remembering what his mother had done to bring him to life and protect him from the Marines showing on his features.

Her own face crumbled at the sight, and she felt her lips unconsciously starting trembling, muttering, searching for anything to force the conversation towards some other topic, even if she needed to seem rude for that.

"Y… your Highness!" interjected Fuu with a loud voice, forcing a smile on her lips and turning her head at the Queen, "Your Kingdom is really incredible! It really surprised me to see such wonderful creatures living here… I mean, when you invited us, I had even imagined that the sovereign of an animal country would be of the animal kind too… So surprising… How long have you been the Queen of Fimbul?"

SHIN. At these words, Queen Jadis' face hardened suddenly, and a frosty draught enveloped the table, instantly bringing a heavy silence.

It merely lasted a fraction of second, but Zoro's eyes narrowed and Fuu inwardly shuddered in front of the brief steal and cruel expression that had just showed Queen Jadis, so brief that it had last the span of an illusion.

"Since winter is blowing on this island…" finally whispered Jadis with an ambiguous smile for her interlocutor.

Fuu forced a smile back on her lips before focusing on her plate, leaving to Sanji the role of pursuing the conversation with heart-shaped eyes and myriads of compliments about how the Queen was way more beautiful than he had expected and etc.

On the other side of the table, Robin had also noticed that the answers and the reactions of the Queen didn't match what the beaver innkeeper had told her about their King. She glanced at Fuu with a very perceptive look, and the hazelnut-haired girl answered by a very preoccupied expression, before diving back in her thoughts.

_Really… There's really something off with this island… This feeling of déjà-vu, already seen, already heard, these shivers… But the incapacity of remembering why and where it is coming from, tsk! The others also feel that something is wrong so it's not only an impression: this Queen is definitely not someone to take lightly… Her aura just now proved it, even if it was so fleeting… Ugh! I feel like I should know who she is… to know that she is not who she is supposed to be, but it is so blur… And if it is coming from my memories from the real world, I can't just expose my theory to everyone as if it was nothing…_

"Something wrong?" asked Ace while bending towards Fuu, worried of seeing her usual smiling face grey with concern and her barely touching her dish.

"No… nothing special… I think…" hesitated Fuu, trying to comfort her neighbour with a little smile.

"Oh, I see… And by the way… Thanks…" whispered Ace while averting slightly his eyes.

Fuu raised her eyebrows, quite puzzled.

"For cutting into the conversation, just before…" specified Ace, a bit embarrassed.

Fuu blinked a couple of time, surprised by such a thank you, and finally couldn't help smiling tenderly, while the servants were beginning to clear away the table to serve some refreshments.

After the waiters had finally managed to take away the piles of empty plates – especially the ones emptied by Luffy, Ace having been cut in the middle of his usual feast by some bitter memories and therefore having not competed with his brother on this aspect – tea was brought in, as well as a big chiselled silver box of sweets.

"I hope you will enjoy these Turkish Delights." said the Queen in a charming smile while opening the refined container filled with pink and sugary confectionaries.

_Tu… Turkish Delights… NO! s_creamed internally Fuu.

The veil on her memory had been blown away, and all the paradoxes and discrepancies she had noticed since she had landed on this island started piling up, slowly completing the puzzle.

_I need to warn them… _thought she, panicking at the sight of the sweets being handed over to her nakamas, _I need to tell them… call them… but without the Queen noticing… how? HOW? Ah… but of course…_

"DON'T TOUCH THESE TURKISH DELIGHTS!" ordered Fuu through a telepathic call.

BAM. All the other pirates had let their hands fall back on the table, and the silver box remained untouched, while the guests were staring at their nakama in disbelief, wondering if they had dreamt the voice in their mind telling them not to touch them.

"I'll explain you later on, but don't eat these sweets…" repeated Fuu, a bit calmer, still by telepathy, before adding for her captain who was staring at her with puppy eyes: "And I'm dead serious!"

"Is something the matter?" finally asked the Queen, stunned to see everyone spurning on the confectionaries.

"Our thanks, your Highness, but our doctor on-board is always advising us to avoid sweets… I am afraid we must pass on your amiable offer." answered Fuu with a settled look, while standing up from her chair to look straight in Queen Jadis' eyes.

"Oh, I see…" smiled the Queen, astonished to see someone challenging her with a simple stare, while thinking: _Does this Daughter of Eve noticed the enchantment I put on the Turkish Delights? Her energy does not seem ordinary, indeed …_

The Queen and Fuu stared at each other for a few seconds, with apparent smiles but raging thoughts. Robin noticed that time had come to make their exit, and rose too.

"Your Highness, I am afraid we have already by too far abused of your hospitality." announced the archaeologist, "We are now going to return to our inn."

Queen Jadis' face froze a second, and she finally smiled back at Robin before answering.

"Oh, please, do not be uneasy about imposing on my hospitality. As I already told you, you are the precious guests of this Ice Palace." graciously announced the Queen, before adding on a tone that wouldn't endure any refusal: "The mountain can be dangerous at night, and we always draw back the bridge at sunset. My servants will lead you to your apartments, you should return to the village tomorrow."

_Humph… She had it all planned… _thought Fuu while silently clenching her teeth.

_It seems like the Queen had noticed we are suspecting her… _internally sighed Robin.

"I wish you a good and peaceful night." finally added Queen Jadis upon rising from her chair and taking leave, dedicating a friendly smile to the pirates, and a challenging stare to the two Daughters of Eve opposing her.

"Likewise, your Highness." answered Fuu while sustaining her stare.

**

* * *

ICE PALACE, GUESTS' SUITE**

The door of the apartment closed on the two royal guards, letting the pirates alone.

"FUU!" shouted Luffy while pouncing on her, really on the nerves, "What the…?"

"These Turkish Delights were enchanted, Luffy…" managed to articulate Fuu amidst Luffy's shouts, "They were filled with the Queen's magic so that we would fall under her control when eaten…"

"WHAT?" exclaimed all the others with a range of disbelieving expressions.

"No reason! They looked so good, these Tou-ish-something!" sulked Luffy while crossing his arms with a sulking and longing expression.

BONG. Nami's fist rang on her captain's head.

"Stupid!" cried she with a nerve showing on her temple, "You don't understand!"

"Luffy! These stuffs would have controlled you like the colour power that this Baroque Works girl was painting on Little Garden… You really want to go through this again?" explained Zoro, quieting his captain under the remark.

SHIN. A little silence fell on the group of pirates.

"Fuu," began Marco, his expression a mixture of poise yet doubt, "It's not that I distrust you, but… how did you know?"

_Oh my… The embarrassing question popping out sooner that I would have loved too… _inwardly sighed Fuu while rummaging her mind to find a plausible answer, _Let's see…_

"Well… The power of the Queen is not from a Devil Fruit, but it somehow resembles my 'spells', so…" tried she while scratching her cheek, "And more than anything, it's because I remembered…"

"You remembered what?" asked Chopper, raising his puzzled little head toward his nakama.

"I remembered… the History of this Island, the reputation of the Queen… I remembered what kind of person she is…" added Fuu with a darker tone.

"And can you tell us more about it? I mean, without all the… unnecessary… details, of course!" added Robin with a conniving smile for Fuu on the last part of her sentence.

_Thanks Robin… _thought Fuu with a relieved expression, while pausing to determine which part of her explanation was needed and which one she should definitely not reveal.

"Queen Jadis is in reality the White Witch: she is not the legitimate sovereign of this island." began Fuu, her discourse bringing everyone's focus on her, even Luffy's and Usopp's, "She stole this throne, and now fears that the fantastic creatures we have met today would come and claim it back. And because of an ancient prophecy, she is particularly fearful of humans – us, who she calls Sons of Adam and Daughters of Eve – because it was said that the real King would take his throne back with their help."

"Are you sure about that, Fuu-chan?" asked Sanji with a more serious tone, the fact of his beautiful Queen being a malevolent witch having dusted away a huge part of his admiration for her.

_I would love to! _answered in her mind Fuu, _I really should have read the book about this Story… I mean, vague memories of a movie I saw something like five years ago is not helping that much… I already don't understand what the hell this story is doing on One Piece Universe, but I wish would know at least enough about it to warn my nakamas, tsk…_

"Hum…" paused Zoro, "And someone can tell me why we always end up in the middle of conflicts for the throne?"

"True, you were already in that kind of mess when I met you with this princess at Alabasta… Seems like this Baka-Otouto is always putting his nose anywhere he wants…" remarked Ace with an amused smile for Luffy, "But more importantly, Fuu…"

"Yes?" answered Fuu, abandoning her own thoughts.

"Do you know what kind of power the Queen uses?" asked Ace with a very serious expression.

"If all these animals didn't revolt against her before that, we kind of guess she is powerful, but how much?" added Marco with the same serious look.

"The Queen is a great Sorceress… As far as I remember, she is the one who froze Na… hum, Fimbul in an everlasting winter…" began Fuu, digging in her memories.

"Hum… That would corroborate what the innkeeper had said…" muttered Robin for herself.

"But more frightening than anything," added Fuu with a cautious look for everyone around, her expression making Luffy, Usopp and Chopper hanging at her lips to know the rest, "She has the power to petrify anyone opposing her into ice statues!"

"HEY?" cried all the others, with various expression.

"Ice statues?" repeated Chopper with a concerned expression, "You mean like when Aokiji had frozen Robin?"

"Petrify?" repeated Luffy who had tried to follow the conversation in case the Queen would have had an amazing super-cool laser weapon or something, "Like Hancock?"

"Hum, no… I think it's a little different…" paused Fuu while gazing at the window beyond which was resting the private garden of the Queen and its controversial ice statues, "A bit between the two, I would say: not entirely rock, but way more than a mere ice cover…"

"Oy oy, that sounds serious!" panicked Usopp, "What should we do? We need to run away and leave this creepy place, then…"

"Or we can just knock out of the way the Queen if she picks a fight with us!" cut Luffy with a punch in his hand.

"I don't think it's that simple anymore…" flatly answered Robin.

And the archaeologist eyes wandered on Fuu, who had sighed and went away to stare at the ice statues in the garden with a guilty expression.

"Not after the dinner scene…" finished Robin with a concerned look.

"Yeah…" confirmed Ace with a glance for the hazelnut-haired girl at the window, "When Fuu stopped the Queen before she could enchant us, the Witch noticed!"

"We could see in her eyes that she considered Fuu as a threat, even if you were hereafter two to challenge her hospitality…" pursued Marco with a glance for Fuu then Robin, "That's precisely why we ended up in this apartment!"

"So you think we're being watched?" asked Sanji with a suspicious look for the door and the windows.

"I don't feel any presence…" retorted Zoro while staring at the walls and the ceiling.

"Oh, If Marimo says it, that means there is REALLY no reason to worry!" mocked Sanji while dragging on his cigarette.

"Oh?" snapped Zoro, a vein appearing on his forehead, "And that comes from a dumb Ero-Cook not the heck able to go past his stupid admiration for the Queen to realise something was damned wrong…"

"What?" snapped Sanji with an angry expression, "You want to fight, Seaweed-Head?"

"When you want…" answered Zoro while putting his hand on his katana.

And the we-don't-even-count-anymoreth battle between the two rivals started.

"Oh, stop it, you two!" ranted Nami, but they weren't listening anymore.

The navigator thus heaved a deep sigh and turned towards her nakama, who was still looking beyond the window.

"Fuu, what do you think would be the best?" asked Nami with a serious expression, "If the Queen is as you described it, Usopp is right: we should leave this island quickly… The Log Pose can wait!"

_I know… _thought Fuu while contemplating the snowy scenery, _I also hope not to be mistaken when saying the Queen is evil, based on a mere memory from the real world… But I also wish that my damn lacking memory is not putting Ace, Marco, Luffy and the others in trouble! I don't want them to become ice statues adorning this creepy garden because of me!_

_Hum, now that I think about it… it's strange! There are only frozen centaurs or fauns and griffons in this garden, not a single human being, although there should have been lots of pirate crews reaching this island of the New World… And if the prophecy is still valid, that should mean that no Son of Adam had come already, or that they were all annihilated by the Witch… Hum, then I can only think of a paradox caused by my brother manipulation of this universe Story, but why now, and why THIS paradoxical story? I mean, it makes no sense with One Piece… What should I do?_

Fuu glanced with concern at the statues below her, softly putting her hand on the translucent ice glass.

BZZZ!

"Kyaaa!" screamed Fuu out of pain at the violent electric shock that had electrocuted her upon touching the window, sending her flying backward on the floor.

"FUU! Are you okay?" exclaimed Nami and Ace who had run towards her with worried faces, soon followed by Chopper.

"Y… yes, it's nothing big, sorry…" reassured Fuu, panting a bit, while trying to get back on her feet with their help.

"Nothing?" moaned Chopper who was already examining her, "But it looks like you took a big electric shock!"

"What?" tilted Marco, Zoro and Sanji.

"Impossible…" muttered Marco while walking straight to the window and pinning his hand on the ice glass.

BZZZ! Another violent shock sent the First Commander of WhiteBeard's Fleet on the ground near Fuu, even if he endured it way better than the hazelnut-haired girl.

"What the…?" groaned Zoro, while drawing his katana to attack the window, but without success.

Despite all the strength of the swordsman, the sabre was not reaching the stained glass ice window, the edge of the katana seeming to rebound on it with plenty electric sparks.

"Here… here too…" mumbled Usopp while taking back instantly his hand dark with electric burns after having tried to open the door.

"Hey?" answered Luffy, perplexed, while opening wide the very same door, under the amazed and dumbfounded expression of Usopp.

"But of course! Luffy is in gum, so he endures electricity without troubles!" exclaimed Nami, "Luffy, can you step into the corridor?"

"Can't…" grumbled Luffy while running in mid-air without progress, not going past the doorstep, as if blocked by an invisible wall.

_A kekkai… a magical barrier! _thought Fuu while getting back on her feet with Ace's help, _No wonder the guards let us alone… This Queen is way more problematic than what I had thought… She knows we know… but at least now her intentions are established!_

"Are you kidding? We really can't step out of this suite?" exclaimed Marco while taking back his human form amidst disappearing blue flames, after having failed to break a nearby wall and rebounded on the electric barrier too.

"Well, then how about waiting until tomorrow morning." proposed Robin with a reflexive expression, "When the guards will come and pick us up for breakfast, we should be able to leave."

"Indeed…" corroborated Nami but with a slightly annoyed look.

"Humph…" mumbled Zoro, Sanji, Ace and Marco, but without having a better suggestion.

"So we need to spend the night here?" cried Usopp, already trembling with a bothered look.

"Hey, so we're going to sleep in these big funny beds all soft? GREAT!" exclaimed Luffy, unaware of the surrounding pressure as usual, before dashing to the four-poster bed to joyfully jump on them.

Nami slapped her own forehead and everyone heaved a deep sigh, a drop of weary sweat appearing on their temples.

"Well…" finally said Nami while gazing at her captain bouncing all over the white beds with childish burst of laughter, "After all, it's not that stupid! We can just take care of the problem tomorrow. It's no use to panic right now."

Zoro, Sanji, Robin, Marco, Ace and Fuu looked at the stupidly overjoyed grin of Luffy as he was rebounding in rhythm from one bed to another, as if playing leap-frog on the five wide beds, soon joined by Usopp who had forgotten his fear to enjoy this new game, Chopper who was finding the bouncing exceptionally funny too, and Nami who had come to watch over them with a tender gaze.

The six other pirates sighed, world-weary, but their lips started drawing a faint smile at the sight.

_Why not… _thought they in unison.

"Hum, to be honest, there's still a problem with this suggestion…" noticed Robin with a neutral tone.

"What AGAIN?" screeched Zoro and Sanji.

Robin's finger pointed at the beds, from left to right.

"Five." said she flatly.

Then she pointed at the Mugiwaras, Ace, Marco, Fuu, and herself.

"Ten…" counted she with a neutral tone.

"So what?" grumbled Zoro while crossing his arms, "You're not going to nit-pick on sharing beds?"

Fuu had turned white and red at the same time, perfectly understanding Robin's remark.

"Then, Ken-san, you will probably understand better if I tell you we are ten people but an odd-numbered of women and men." smiled Robin with a platonic expression.

CLONG. The mouths of Zoro, Sanji and Ace had just unhooked in a significant silence, while Marco's eyes had widened with an amused expression.

Indeed, the beds were wide enough for two people, but there were only three girls in the group, meaning than one of them will have to spend the night in the same bed as one of the seven remaining guys.

Embarrassment lasted until joyful screams came from the three idiots bouncing on the beds.

"Shishishi! So fun!" was laughing Luffy while crossing in mid-air with Chopper and Usopp and striking poses, "Come on, Nami, that's so funny!"

"Luffy, she should go and sleep!" tried to refuse Nami, the idea of joining the one she loved fighting fiercely with the concept of keeping her dignity and not joining such a childish game, "We should take some rest for escaping tomorrow…"

"Come on, we just need to punch out the Queen!" grinned Luffy while sitting down on the edge of the bed near Nami, "But after breakfast! Food here is just so great!"

"Hey, Luffy," arrived Zoro, his cheeks still a bit flushed, "For tonight… well, it's about the beds, we've got a problem… We need to share them among us, and…"

"Hey, really?" asked Luffy while raising his eyes towards his nakama, "Okay, then… Nami, we sleep together?"

BONG. Sanji's leg had fallen hard on a straw hat, while Nami had frozen, her cheeks slightly blushing.

"What the heck do you think you're proposing to Nami-san?" shouted Sanji while keeping in the fury from the remembrance of the kiss between his captain and his goddess-navigator the very same day: _I can TOLERATE that Nami-san wants to be with you, if it's for her happiness… But don't jazz it up!_

"Ugh, I can't then?" asked Luffy with a disappointed gaze for his navigator.

_Luffy… _thought Nami when looking at her boyfriend's face.

"Okay, then I sleep with Chopper!" grinned Luffy while catching Chopper and cuddling him in his arms.

CRASH. Nami's face had crumbled of sourness, her chin falling down until reaching her chest.

"Hey, I'm not a hot-water bottle!" protested Chopper.

"Luffy, unfair! I wanted to sleep with Chopper too!" complained Usopp while trying to steal the little doctor from Luffy's arms.

"I don't want to!" answered Luffy with the sulking expression of a spoiled brat, "Chopper is all soft and warm!"

"Stop making fun of the reindeer!" snapped Chopper while briskly transforming into his humanoid form.

"Gyaa, a monster!" screamed Usopp, his eyes bulging out of their sockets, while Luffy was laughing even harder.

_Oh my… Seems like the beginnings of our LuNa couple are not going to be easy… _thought Fuu, upon watching Nami sulk because Luffy didn't insisted more than that to sleep with her.

And she repressed a laugh in front of the lack of love intelligence of their captain.

"This bunch of idiots…" sighed Zoro while slapping his forehead with his hand.

"Looks like we have found one or two pairings already, heehee…" laughed Marco with an amused expression for the three idiots.

"Nami-swan!" twirled Sanji with heart-shaped eyes and shining-armour-knight tone, "Don't worry about this bed sharing stuff, I'll protect you, even if I need to sleep on the ground for that!"

But Nami just sighed at the dedicated declaration of the gentleman.

"Of course, that goes for the three of my most important goddesses!" added the cook while looking at Fuu and Robin with a very devoted expression, "I'm ready to anything to protect you!"

"Hum, you know, Sanji, we're not obliged to reach such extremities…" said Fuu with a drop of annoyed sweat appearing on her temple.

_Why are they always so extremist?_

"True, Sanji-kun." answered Nami in a sigh, "We can just do it like usual: I'll sleep with Robin…"

And the navigator smiled at the archaeologist who slightly nodded.

"It doesn't matter!" groaned Zoro while scratching his head, "Even like that, it's still odd-numbered!"

"True…" smiled Marco with an ambiguous smile, "So what about you, Fuu? With whom are you going to sleep?"

Everyone's eyes converged towards the hazelnut-haired girl: anxious looks awaiting her decision and hoping to be her choice, cunning looks waiting for the comical reactions of the others after the choice, and one pair of pitiful eyes whose owner just pointed at herself with an distressed expression.

"Hum, me…" began Fuu with a more and more troubled expression, "I… I'll just sleep on the sofa, I guess…"

_I take back what I just said about extremist decisions, sigh…_

"Out of the question!" shouted in unison Nami, Sanji, Ace and Zoro while baring their teeth.

_Huh?_

"If someone must sleep on the sofa, that would be one of the guys!" retorted Nami while crossing her arms, "Don't let them push it onto you!"

"Yeah, Fuu-chwan. You have to take good care of your magnificent body…" added Sanji with a lecturing tone.

_Sigh… What are you saying, both of you? It would have been way easier if Sanji had JUST accepted to let our two lovey-dovey nakamas sleep in the same bed! Or if the two idiots fighting over Chopper could JUST let him sleep with a girl rather than using him as a bed-warmer…_

_Sigh, double sigh… How come we've switched from the tense situation of being hostages to the one of fighting over beds? All of that because of the Queen's spell, tsk… Spell… Oh, but of course: I can just use my power to create another bed, and everything should be fine!_

But Fuu didn't have time to offer her solution to the audience, because a comment of Robin suddenly made her lose track of what she was thinking.

"And… why would you not choose Ace?" calmly asked the archaeologist, some pieces of memories showing her images of herself waiting for Fuu outside of Ace's cabin, "You have already spent some nights together before, if I'm not mistaken…"

"WH…?" startled Fuu and Ace, blushing intensely at the remembrance.

TCHAK. Zoro had drawn his swords of a few centimetres by a thumb impulse and was now glaring at Ace with a dark look.

Sanji's cigarette had dropped from his lips under the shock, and the cook was muttering something like 'it can't be true'.

Nami was staring at Fuu with a stunned expression, wondering if what she had perceived between her friend and Luffy's brother – and that Marco's nakamas had highlighted at the hot springs – could be true in the end.

And the commotion even attracted Luffy's, Chopper's and Usopp's attention.

"Th… that's wasn't really…" babbled Fuu for her defence, waving her hands on the side with a blushing and panicking expression.

"Hum… And if I remember correctly, you didn't even step out from Ace's cabin for a whole 48 hours…" added Marco with an ambiguous tone, hoping to make the situation worst – a prospect he always found delightfully funny.

WhiteBeard's First Commander: 1 Victory! His comment brought forth the desired results.

Sanji had by now fainted, knocked out by the news, and Chopper was panicking and running around calling a doctor, before realising it was him. A deathly frosty aura was now emanating from Zoro and he had entirely drawn his sword, while Usopp was trying to calm him down before running and hide behind a wardrobe at the sight of the black light in the swordsman eyes. Luffy was looking at his brother with a very puzzled look, his head bent on the side, before finally asking Nami why it was a problem to spend 48 hours in bed with Fuu, and Nami could only blush a little and sighed at such an innuendo. And Robin had let out a little admiring whistle at the hinted performance, even if she doubted of its veracity.

Marco had gotten closer to Ace, bending over to try and see what expression was making the Second Commander of the Fleet under the hat which was shadowing his eyes. And suddenly: BONG!

"SHUT UP!" had yelled Ace while knocking out Marco with a violent – and serious – punch on his nakama's head, "Just shut up! She was exhausted at that time…! She spent two full days sleeping, never minding the week of recovery after the Buster Call! Do you have any idea of how much I was worried?"

SHIN. The Mugiwaras were staring at Ace in silence, shocked to see him crack up like that, and even Zoro was taken aback by seeing Ace lose his cool for the first time ever since they had known him.

"So just shut up, would you… I never… I never did… she… I… tsk…" finished Ace while averting his eyes with his cheeks beat red, anger having turned into self-consciousness.

Marco sighed and didn't insist. He just gazed at Fuu with an amused expression, and smiled even a bit more when seeing that the girl in question was still stunned, her cheeks way more red than usual.

_Ace?_

Fuu gazed at Ace with a very guilty – yet happy and thus even more guilty to feel happy – expression, trying to weight in his eyes how much trouble she had caused him and how much worry she had inflicted him. She saw his fists trembling with anger and embarrassment.

_My fault… _thought she while biting her inferior lips, _Be it back then when I abused my power and relied on him… or now when I challenged the Queen without thinking it would involve my nakamas… my fault…_

Fuu swallowed back her previous embarrassment and clenched her fists with determination between turning her heels and walking towards the door.

_My responsibilities… So who cares! If I need to use my power to get out of this situation, at least let's use it for something useful, for once…_

"Fuu?" began Nami, the first one to have abandoned the previous episode to react to her friend's action, "What are you…?"

Fuu had pinned her hand on the invisible barrier surrounding the apartment and trapping them into the royal suite, and small electric sparks started to fuse from the contact point. She clenched her lips tight together in a determined expression, camping her feet strongly in the ground to gain support, and released her Devil Fruit power in a pushing movement against the kekkai.

"Fuu!" shouted Ace while dashing towards her at the moment he saw electric sparks flashing amidst wind gulfs around the hazelnut-haired girl.

"Tsk, that baka…" mumbled Zoro while sheathing his katana before running towards the girl, soon followed by the rest of the group.

The numerous lightning sparks exuding from the magic barrier while Fuu was progressively forcing her way through it to break it were sizzling in blinding wind draughts. Fuu kept on pushing, clenching her teeth, forcing herself not to listen to her body who was screaming with pain for each bruise and burning scratch the kekkai was giving her to defend itself against her power.

"Fuu…" muttered Nami, helplessly worried for her friend.

The powerless audience couldn't even get closer than two metres. Luffy and especially Ace were trying to enter the perimeter to reach Fuu, worried sick to see her using her power again, and for so powerful a 'spell', but the pressure of the invisible kekkai was fatally keeping them away.

_Grr… A little bit more… just a little bit more… _was mumbling Fuu for herself, releasing more and more of her Hoshi Hoshi no Mi power into her hand to break the magical barrier.

And suddenly, in a torrential burst of lightning sparks and white smoke, the Queen's magic barrier imploded, sending everyone flying backward – from a few centimetres to several metres depending on the person.

_Kof, kof… _coughed all the spectators, searching amidst the smoke veil to discern the issue of the match between the power of the White Witch and the one of their angel-winged nakama.

"Fuu! Hey, Fuu?" was calling Ace, who had caught back the girl in his arms after her gliding amidst the blast of the explosion of the kekkai.

Chopper had already run towards them with his little bag and was examining Fuu with an awful expression. Her skin was now chiseled with electric burn marks, especially her arms, and she was panting a lot.

"I'm fine…" mumbled Fuu while stumbling back on her feet, "More importantly, we need to leave… The Queen has probably already detected that we had forced through her magic barrier…"

Ace and Chopper stared at her with frowning looks of disapproval, but Luffy chimed in with a serious tone.

"Yosh! Then we're going! We're not going to waste your efforts…" declared he while digging his hat back on his head and determinedly walk towards the corridor.

"Fuu, are you really okay?" asked Nami while coming closer, worry showing on her face.

"Can you stand? And walk?" asked Robin, also worried for her friend.

"Don't push yourself or Oyaji is going to chew us hard…" teased Marco with half-a-smile.

"Of course I'm fine!" affirmed Fuu while forcing a smile on her lips, "Come on, don't worry so much!"

"Let's go!" said Luffy while leading the way out of the apartment, at running speed, followed by everyone else.


	6. Ch 4: Eternal Winter

**THE DAY THE BENDED STORY OF ONE PIECE GOT MINGLED WITH THE SNOWS OF TIME**

…

Hundred Years Winter, the Tale of a Curse

…

**FIMBUL, ICE PALACE**

"Turn right!" instructed Nami upon reaching a crossing of ice corridors.

The Mugiwaras, Ace, Fuu and Marco were still running, searching the exit amidst the frosty maze that Queen Jadis had as a Palace.

"I remember the way we took when coming, so follow me closely! Especially you, Zoro! And you, Luffy!" added Nami while catching the hand of their captain in her own, knowing by experience that it was rare for everyone to stay together in this kind of situation.

"You too, Ace…" mocked Marco with half a smile for the one running on his right and who – despite his really good orientation sense – was often losing track of everyone when deep in his thoughts.

And indeed, Ace wasn't even listening: he was more preoccupied by the girl out of breath running behind him than by the directions given by his brother's navigator.

"Fuu, if you're too tired, we can carry you…" offered Ace, even hesitating in taking her in his arms without asking her permission but backing off to avoid another bump on his head.

"No way!" ranted Fuu with determined eyes, "Don't even think about it while everyone else is running!"

_I'm not as light as Chopper! And not in distress enough to bear with being 'carried'! I can manage on my own, tsk… I still have enough energy left from my 'spell' to do at least that… Even if I must admit I should have trained to marathon in our world: my mere jogger experience is definitely not up to the level of Shounen manga characters… even Robin and Nami seem to easily keep up, so frustrating!_

And the little group finally reached the doorstep of the imposing entrance of the Ice Palace, which was obviously locked. Everyone stared at the double-door of nearly ten metres high with circumspection – bitterly remembering the electric sparks back in the apartment – and Fuu finally walked towards it and carefully put her hand on its hinged section.

"No barrier!" sighed she with relief at assessing that the Queen hadn't put any magic kekkai on it.

"Move!" said Zoro while putting his hands on the hilts of two of his swords, "Nitouryu Iai: Rashomon!"

The swordsman jumped towards the titanic double doors, unsheathing at light speed and attacking the obstacle in a brief second, before swiftly landing back on the floor.

TCHAK. At the same time Zoro was sheathing back his two katanas, the immense doors fell down in a crumble of multiple blocks, under the adoring expression of Chopper and Usopp and the admiring smile of the others.

"Let's go!" shouted Luffy while leading one more time the little troop outside at running speed.

But once the doors crossed, a huge obstacle was awaiting them. Queen Jadis didn't bluff when she said they were pulling back the bridge at sunset: more precisely, the bridge of blue ice they had taken on their way in had quite simply disappeared.

"Grr, we're blocked!" screeched Usopp upon seeing the abyss of darkness surrounding them.

"I can't see!" ranted Luffy, his hand at the level of his eyes to scan beyond the precipice, "I can't grab something if I can't see it!"

"Whatever, there was only snow on the other side, nothing you could use as an anchorage point…" remarked Sanji while dragging on his cigarette, his eyebrows frowning in front of the pitfall.

"Marco, you can cross under your phoenix form, right?" asked Ace while gazing at the distance separating them from the other side of the snowy mountain.

"Of course I can, but don't forget I can't carry anyone on my complete phoenix form, you would be burnt!" reminded the First Commander of WhiteBeard's Float with a weary expression.

"So what are our options?" asked Nami, "The ice soldiers are going to arrive soon…"

And as if to confirm her comment, the sound of frozen metal of the Queen's armours chimed beyond the entrance door. Nearly a hundred of Royal Guards were slowly coming their way, ice spears ready to use in their hands.

"Tsk, we don't have time anymore…" muttered Ace while digging his hat on his head, his upset expression resembling its hat second smiley.

"I could… make us float until the other side…" offered Fuu, still short of breath and mentally trying to measure how much energy such a powerful 'spell' would cost her, but without showing her worry on her face.

"Rejected!" declared Ace on a tone without alternative, "You're already tired, and that's ten of us…"

SCREECH. The shadow of a huge bird suddenly grazed them.

_Huh?_

"What?" exclaimed Zoro upon looking up at the dark silhouettes of half a dozen of immense birds flying in a close aerial formation above their head.

"Hurry up!" rang up the voice of the young woman riding on the bird leading the detachment.

"You're late…" grumbled Marco while hiding a smile at recognizing the voice of his nakama whose russet hair was blazing in the night.

The huge birds – which turn out to be griffins – swoop down low flying between the ice soldiers and the pirates, landing in a flutter of wings, and the Mugiwaras rushed to jump on their back.

"Fuu, come on!" shouted Ace while seizing her hand to lift her up and pull her in front of him on the croup of a griffin.

The ice soldiers had started throwing their spears towards the birds, and the only one who hadn't taken off yet were Fuu and Ace.

"Kagero!" roared Ace while sending a stream of fire melt the ice weapons.

"Hold on tight!" warned the griffin who was carrying them.

And the last griffin dashed towards the precipice, spreading its wings and making them fly off from the Palace entrance plaza.

Fuu glanced back beyond her and Ace's back, and her eyes widened when seeing Queen Jadis standing on the doorstep of the Ice Palace, her spectre pointed towards the skies.

"Icy Wind!" chimed in the voice of the Ice Queen.

"Kyaaa!" screamed Fuu while clinging to the feathers of their mount.

The violent blast destabilized the griffin, who had to incline at forty-five degrees to avoid the biggest part of the attack.

"Damn it! … Kyokahen!" shouted Ace while sending behind him a new salve of flames to form a wall in mid-hair and block the second 'Icy Wind' that Jadis had sent them.

"Hang on to me, we're going to distance her!" announced the griffin while swiftly recovering his flying position and dashing brutally with a lacing trajectory.

"ACE!" yelled Fuu upon seeing him – who was still countering the Queen's attacks – slide along the frozen feathers of the griffin and topple over towards the abysses surrounding them.

Ace had only realized he was falling when Fuu has screamed his name, but it was too late for him to cling to their mount: the frosty gust of wind from the Queen's attacks had rendered the feathers as slippery as black ice… And Ace felt that he was irreparably falling, as if drawn by the darkness of the precipice.

"Golly Gosh!" swore the griffin with a swift U-turn, but another ice gust sent by Jadis shook him more and prevented him from catching back his passenger – him as well as the griffin carrying Nami and Luffy who had flew back at full speed to help them.

Amidst the wind blast, Fuu stared in the Palace direction with a dark glare, her eyes seeming to get clouded by a screen of black frost caused by the rage she was feeling.

_Grr… I'm going to… _inwardly rumbled Fuu, while particles of white light seemed to irradiate from her whole body and assembled in her hand without her even having to pronounce her 'spell' incantation.

DOMM. And she released forcefully her power in a whirlwind of light, sending a violent blast of shining wind towards the Palace and its royal owner, several cut carving into her skin as a price for the 'spell' used.

Queen Jadis blocked the stinging light gust with a magic shield of ice, but the soldiers were projected against the ruins of the entrance door in a twister of stardust.

"Wow…" let escape Nami in a breath, while their griffin was recovering its position, gaping at the sight of this new attack definitely as powerful as Admiral Kizaru's laser.

"ACE!" yelled Fuu while averting her attention from the Queen and releasing her hold on their mount to dive deliberately in the emptiness.

_Baka! Baka! BAKA!_

"FUU!" screamed Nami at seeing her friend flowing into darkness on Ace's heels.

"ACE! FUU!" shouted Luffy, finally stable on the griffin and launching his arms across space to grab them, but obscurity made him miss his targets, "Tsk!"

Fuu was still falling in the dark precipice, her eyes pinned on Ace's silhouette.

"Ace!" called she upon reaching his level, resolutely stretching her hand towards him.

"Fuu? What the…" exclaimed Ace when she entered his field of vision, her presence troubling his train of thoughts: _What the heck is she doing here? She also fell? Don't tell me she jumped into space just to come and pick me up? Don't tell me it's THAT? What the…? I can manage on my own! At worst, I would have absorbed the fall with a fire pillow and I would just have to climb back to the top of the mountain… What does she think she's doing?_

"Ace…" called Fuu while stretching her fingers as far as possible in his direction, a worried and supplicating expression on her face.

_Baka… _thought Ace with half a smile, upon reaching out his hand to seize Fuu's and pull her on to him.

FLASH. At the same moment, tens and tens of metres above, Nami and Luffy saw an intense white-golden light shine in the darkness.

"Wh…" muttered they, worried for their two nakamas fallen from their griffin.

FLUUT. A pair of immaculate wings had sprouted from Fuu's back, while she was implementing a levitation 'spell' on Ace, who was holding her on to his chest.

And some new cuts lacerated her skin, as if to remind her that the power of the Hoshi Hoshi no Mi was not to be trifled with.

"Hey!" exclaimed Ace while softly wiping beads of blood dripping from a cut on Fuu's cheek, "Why did you follow me if your energy level is so low already?"

_Now that I think about it, why? _thought Fuu with a faint idiotic grin, her eyes hidden under the shadow of her hair, _I could have made him levitate from the distance, to be sure… I'm definitely an idiot!_

TLING. Nami and Luffy witnessed with a sigh of relief that Fuu had stopped their fall and was now bringing them up towards their griffin with ample flutters of wings.

"Wow… Her power is really powerful!" exclaimed Nami while admiring the golden bubble of Fuu's levitation 'spell' which was making Ace float as if he weighted nothing., "Why isn't she using it more often…? Hey Luffy, have you seen that?"

"Hum…? Oh, yeah, Fuu's Devil Fruit is super great!" admitted Luffy, but the frown on his forehead contrasted with the smile he had forced on his lips.

**

* * *

FIMBUL, BEAVERS'S ONSEN, COURTYARD**

"Fuu! Ace!" rushed Nami when her two friend's griffin landed in the courtyard of the inn kept by the beavers, a few minutes after them, and nearly a quarter of hour after everyone else.

Everyone gazed at them with an apprehensive expression, having heard about their fall by Luffy and Nami – especially Nami.

Ace swiftly jumped down from their mount while carefully holding Fuu in his arms:, a Fuu pale and completely out of breath but ranting that she was fine and could walk by herself – statement everyone doubted with good reason.

"Ace, let them take care of Fuu. We've got a serious matter at hand!" advised Marco upon putting his hand on Ace's shoulder and pointing from his thumb their guests.

Following Marco's stare, Ace looked at the fascinating silver-feathered griffin and imposing black- sapphire coated centaur facing him.

He glanced at Marco's determined eyes, and regretfully entrusted Fuu to Sanji who carefully brought the girl inside, following a beaver employee, and Chopper on their heels with his little backpack ready.

Ace could still hear the faint complaint of Fuu moaning that she was okay and he smiled at the nonsense she was pulling before joining the audience in a wide circle around the big fire lit in the middle of the courtyard, sitting next to his brother.

"Let me introduce you to the two main leaders of the rebellion against the White Witch." announced Robin while presenting the two fantastic creatures, "They were explaining us the current situation until your arrival."

"Oh, nice to meet you…" raised up and bowed very politely Ace, "My name is Portgas D. Ace, and I apologize for having interrupted your conversation."

"Please do not concern yourself with that…" answered the griffin leader, "We have been quite… surprised… to learn how you had escaped your fall in the precipice…"

"Your friend," hesitated the centaur leader with an interrogative look for Ace and the surrounding pirates, "Is she also a… sorceress from Charn?"

"I beg your pardon?" asked Robin, taken aback upon hearing the name of the legendary country of magicians and sorceress pronounced in such a normal tone.

"The Ice Queen is native from Charn: she left her dying world and invaded our Kingdom by using her magician power to plunge this country into a never-ending snow tempest: Hundred Years Winter…" pursued the centaur, his eyes shining with hatred at the mention of the Queen.

"So… we were wondering if… if your friend…" mumbled the griffin leader with a troubled and concerned tone.

"NO! Fuu is our nakama!" interrupted straight Luffy with his determined yet emotionless face, "And even if she has a Devil Fruit a bit powerful, she's not like your Queen!"

"Oh… my apologies…" muttered the griffin with an embarrassed tone.

"Only a Devil Fruit user?" wondered the centaur while turning his head in the direction towards which Fuu had been taken into the inn to be treated, "However… she does not smell like you all…"

Robin suddenly raised her head to stare at the centaur leader: _Fuu is so fundamentally different from us?_

"Of course she smells differently: Fuu is a girl!" retorted Luffy while crossing his arms, still remembering perfectly all the lessons Fuu had given him some time ago about the differences between guys and girls.

SHIN. A little silence followed, before everyone started laughing at their captain's comment.

Even the centaur leader – who had stared at Luffy in disbelief at first – ended up smiling upon seeing this young human caring so less about the nature of the people surrounding him as long as they were friends. And he decided to go back to the other matter at hands.

"Before your arrival, we were announcing to your friends that our real King is presently on his way to this place, in order to meet with you." repeated the leader, aiming at Ace.

"Your King? For us…? Why would he?" calmly asked Ace, but frowning a bit at the declaration, "Your Queen – or Witch, if you prefer – also seemed to be interested in us. Is that because we are… Sons of Adam?"

"It is correct, indeed…" admitted the griffin leader, considerably surprised at the comment, "If you have already heard about this term, I can readily vouch that you also know about the prophecy saying that the throne will be restored to our King thanks to the help of some Daughters of Eve and Sons of Adam."

"Yeah, we…" began Usopp, but the rest of his sentence was cut by his nakama.

"Yes, we have heard about it." had interrupted Robin, cutting short to the fact that Fuu was the one who had told them about it, by fear of bringing new suspicions upon her friend.

"It has been a long time now, such a long time we are watching out for the day this prophecy will come true." confessed the centaur leader.

"As such, when you landed on this island, when the letter from the Palace came, we have followed you slightest actions and gestures. Upon not seeing you coming back, your friends who had stayed behind at the inn left searching for you and we helped them in rescuing you." completed the griffin leader.

"Oh… Beaver-san, you were in reality an emissary? Could it be the reason why Luffy met you so easily on the way between the coast and here?" asked Ace with a lecturing smile for the beaver innkeeper also present around the fire.

"I am deeply sorry…" whispered the beaver while lowering his apologetic and shameful eyes on the flames.

"Ace! Don't pick on our beaver friends!" retorted Luffy while pointing at his big brother with a challenging expression.

"Okay, my bad…" apologized Ace in a smile, putting his hands up to show his redemption.

And that was the moment Sanji, Chopper and Fuu chose to join the assembly in the courtyard.

"Fuu!" exclaimed Ace, unconsciously standing up, "Are you feeling okay?"

"Of course! Chopper is a fantastic doctor, you know!" commented Fuu with a conniving smile for the little reindeer.

"Pff… If you think you can just flatter me like that… It's not making me happy at all, baka human!" answered Chopper while dancing with joy, which contradicted a lot the words he had just spoken.

_Of course, I can't tell him that I forced Chopper to give me a pill that tasted like some super bitter horror movie in order to recover MOMENTARILY from my exhaustion – but well, the saying goes that the more disgusting the medicine, the more effective it is, so I should be in top condition now – and that I bribed Sanji with puppy eyes so that he wouldn't tell anyone about the fact that I shouldn't be standing up YET! _ thought Fuu with a faint sigh.

_But well, as I sow so shall I reap… What could I expect after two 'spells' that powerful and my little flying show… The Queen's kekkai, hum… Now that I think about it, Clow is going to chew me for having used my power on such a huge thing, and I should also slapped myself for not keeping my own word and interfering with the normal path of the story – a story where I shouldn't be there, tsk…_

But her nakama's comment made Fuu leave her little world.

"Fuu, you're doing better! Great!" grinned Luffy while sending his two elastic arms towards her.

"Kyaaa…" let escape Fuu, suddenly feeling her feet not touching ground anymore.

And the two gum arms had rewound, energetically propelling her towards her captain and pinning her rather not delicately on the bench right between Ace and the culprit.

BONG. BONG. Nami's fist had rung out on Luffy's head, closely followed by Fuu's fist, and leaving a splendid piled up double bump on the head of the offender.

"What do you think you're doing to someone still recovering?" yelled Nami while baring her teeth.

"I told you not to that to a girl!" reprimanded Fuu while baring her teeth too.

"Buuut…" sulked Luffy while pitifully massaging his head, "Ace is doing that all the time and you say nothing!"

Fuu froze, and felt blood flushing into her cheeks at light speed. Zoro and Sanji had titled and were eyeing the two protagonists with curiosity. Robin and Marco were watching the situation with an amused smile. And Nami had slapped her own forehead, sighing at Luffy's tactlessness.

"Th… that's different!" retorted Fuu without really thinking about it.

_Hey? Wait a second… How come it's different? Wh… why? Why Ace? Waaaahhh, why ?_

"Oy, Luffy, I assure you it's not true! Let's see, she's already hit me… hum… three, four… five times at least!" enumerated Ace with a crooked smile for Fuu, "Plus the times she scolded me, pushed me, knocked me off…"

_What the…? _blushed furiously Fuu at Ace's teasing smile.

"HEY? All of that? Fuu, you managed to knock Ace off? Wow, I'm so jealous! Me, I've always lost against him when we were little…" said Luffy, his hands behind his head and his cheeks inflated in a sulking expression, "Oh, but now I'm sure I could win!"

"Hum…" hesitated Fuu while glancing at the two brothers fighting over Luffy's groundless statement, her own feelings shared between shame and annoyance.

Fortunately, that was the moment that the King of Fimbul chose to make his entrance, and even the two brothers froze when catching sight of him.

SHIN. Silence welcomed his arrival, quietness only troubled by the admiring whisper of the audience. The two leaders griffin and centaur respectfully stood up on his approaching.

The paws of the King majestically set foot on the ground, without a noise. The nightly wind was making his shining mane ripple under the vacillating glow of the dying fire. His wide topaz eyes seemed to sound out the hearts of the ones facing him.

Even Luffy had calmed down, and all the pirates couldn't look away from the monarch who was the picture of nobility and wisdom themselves.

Wrapped in all his greatness, the real King of Fimbul had joined the circle of his guests.

"Aslan…" murmured Fuu in a breath, completely subjugated.

The Lion slowly turned his head towards her, as well as did the two fantastic leaders, disconcerted to hear her pronounce this name.

"Thus, you know of my name, Daughter of Eve?" asked Aslan with a deep and warm voice.

"Ah! Hum… I… please forgive my rudeness, I… my name is Fuu…" bowed Fuu in a curtsey, lowering her eyes on the floor while cursing herself for what she had let escaped from her lips: _Idiot! Idiot! Triple Idiot! I should really lose this bad habit of pronouncing all the words coming to my mind without thinking twice about it, especially in this world… No, actually, even in our world, it would be nice too…_

When she raised her head back, Aslan was still gazing at her with these eyes that seemed to be able to pierce through the shadows of deceit to see the truth, and Fuu apprehensively clenched her fingers on the pleats of her white dress, worried about what the King was discovering in her soul.

Ace glanced at the worried expression of Fuu and remembered the comments about the two leaders on her origins and the source of her power.

"Chibi Kagero…" called Ace while suddenly projecting a mini stream of flames from the palm of his hand to reanimate the central fire with vivid fire, his eyes pinned on Aslan with a challenging look.

_Ace?_

"I am Portgas D. Ace. It is an honour to meet you, your Majesty!" bowed Ace very politely when the Lion had diverted his attention from Fuu to look at the Son of Adam who had displayed such an impressive power.

And he slightly adjusted his hat on his head with his index to determinedly rivet his eyes into the ones of the King.

"We were told that you need people like us to get your throne back… What have you planned, if it does not seem rude to ask?" added Ace with a confident smile and still provoking the King into not looking away from him.

Aslan stared at Ace, straight into his eyes and his soul. He then slowly glanced at Fuu, before bringing back his eyes on Ace.

"You did not have to worry, young Ace…" declared the King with a benevolent smile and warm intonations in his voice, "This young lady has no reason to consider me as a threat…"

Fuu let escaped a subtle sigh of relief, and Ace crooked a faint smile at the Lion's answer.

"And respecting to your question, we indeed need you." added Aslan with a composed expression, resuming the conversation.

Fuu carefully turned her eyes towards Ace with a soft grateful smile, and they both sit down back on the bench to hear the rest of the majestic Lion story.

"Indeed, it is true that such a prophecy is being transmitted in this Kingdom, and that we have been waiting for the Sons of Adam and the Daughters of Eve that would help us chase the White Witch from this land." narrated Aslan, his poised and heart-warming voice naturally bringing everyone's attention on him, "This land which has always been the magic country of fantastic creatures such as griffins, centaurs, nymphs, minotaurs and other intelligent species."

"But nowadays, we are only the shadows of the people and leaders we were back then… Our clans, our comrades have been decimated… captured… petrified… or sent to the ends of these lands to never come back…" pursued the griffin leader with a dark tone, "Our clans decline and wilt under the yoke of the Queen's power…"

"By the way, we were wondering… where the Queen's power is coming from?" asked Zoro with his usual collected dark expression, "She said herself it wasn't the powers of a Devil Fruit…"

"That is indeed correct." answered Aslan with a calm voice, "The White Witch has found a source of ice magic, and uses her sorceress blood to use it, since she has at her disposal the most powerful magical catalyst of our lands: an Ice Dragon!"

_A Dragon? One of these Dragons so deeply feared and respected in Dungeons&Dragons? _tilted Fuu, her eyes widening under the news.

"What's that, a Dragon? That's my father's name but it's also some creepy-crawly stuff?" asked Luffy while twitching his head on the side on a puzzled expression.

"A Dragon is a fantastic creature from ancient times." calmly explained Robin for her captain and the rest of her crewmates, "They are beings granted with powerful magic, and who resembled huge winged reptiles. Dragons can be classified depending on their magical element and their ethical alignment: Ice Dragons are very often from the race of Silver Dragons and are famous for their goodness and their wisdom, since they are living prodigiously long… I confess being utterly astonished to hear that there are still Dragons living on these lands… Grand Line is decidedly a world full of surprises!"

_Exactly what I remembered… Silver Dragons are in charge of watching over the equilibrium of the world magic… and to protect pure and innocent beings from harm… They are the very same Dragons who supply the mana of the world in Dungeons&Dragons… Creatures whose life and death is more important than the one of any other living being… Fantastic creatures who make the sun dye into scarlet when their blood flows… Mythical creatures who make the whisper of the wind die out at the same time as the world mana disappears along their last breathe… Creatures… who… ARE… the world!_

"Oh, in short, that's big lizards with wings, right?" asked Usopp to pursue Robin's description.

"To simplify it and talk only about their appearance, yes…" answered Aslan with an amused smile for the long-nosed human, "But they are also beings who have been venerated on our lands for their magic and their wisdom from the dawn of times."

_Venerated… So precious and venerated, yet sacrificed on the altar of wars between humans and magicians, in the name of a quest for power and greed? Ugh…! I hate this kind of scenarios! It twists my insides just to think about it… and this Dragon, is he…?_

Clenching her fists until her fingers turned white, Fuu was hesitating to ask the question burning her lips, not daring to pronounce words which could only bring more unwanted attention on her.

Hopefully, the griffin leader pursued the conversation and answered her so pressing yet silent question without her sollicitation.

"This Witch has therefore stooped down until imprison the last living Ice Dragon of this world to be sure of having a permanent source of magic…." screeched he in a tone where one could hear revolt and resentment, but also helplessness.

"She dared to IMPRISON this Dragon?" muttered Fuu with a barely audible voice, her eyes wide opened of horror still pinned on the fire but seeing only the empty space in front of her.

_Imprison a Silver Dragon… Such a low, selfish, revolting action…_

"Imprison him… even if it would perturb the rare flows of magic still subsisting on these lands?" muttered she, at the same time desperated and revolted by such an outrage, and definitely forgetting she had just told herself not to open her mouth anymore.

"It is correct, indeed." answered one more time Aslan, "But I am quite baffled to notice that you know about the existence and about the important role of Dragons, young Fuu… And… might you enlighten the reason behind your shaken heart, such a troubled feeling I can detect, even if closely hold on within you, since you heard about the Witch's doing?"

Her void eyes still pinned on the dancing flames of the central fire, Fuu didn't even heard herself answering the question asked by the majestic Lion.

She just felt her lips move and let escape all the indignation building up at that very moment, while her memory was showing her images of Silver Dragons swirling in the blood-tainted sky of Izmer, the life breath of their world withering away along their agony…

"Dr… Dragons are precious! They are creatures whose life and death affect the equilibrium of the magic of this earth… Wanting to subdue them to the will of anyone is a crime against the order of this world nature!" declared she with a trembling voice, her eyes still under the shadow of her hair.

_She knows… that damned Witch knows about the role of Dragons, even if it is not a creature from her own Story… She knows and yet… Grr, I'm so angry I can't even keep quiet anymore! A paradox? So what? Who cares? She stooped down to such a low way of dominating this island! A Silver Dragon on top of that, a creature I respect ever since I was a child, even if my parents had tried to explain me it was only fictional beings… So who cares if it is not my place to worry about that? Who cares if this world is not the mine? Who cares about all of that when such things are at stake?_

"Wh… why? This Witch should not have the right to even THINK about imprisoning this Dragon!" exclaimed Fuu while biting hard into her inferior lip, her voice pitching high even if she hadn't wanted to raise her tone.

SHIN. The wind blew in silence, making the flames of the central fire shimmer.

The rest of the audience was still silently gazing at Fuu, who had her hands clenched around her dress on her lap, and tears of rage blurring her eyes while she was silently taking in the blow that the news had provoked inside her.

"Hum, it is indeed true that the survival of our world is depending on their fate…" admitted softly the griffin leader, "But it is quite unusual to meet HUMANS who not only know about the situation, but also respect so deeply Dragons…"

"I ignore how you know about that, but…" began the centaur leader, as if hesitating what to tell the girl sitting across the fire in front of him.

TILT. Robin reacted to the comment of the centaur, and she stared at him with concern, a bit afraid that he would bring the topic of Fuu's origins under the spotlight again.

"… but I am somehow relieved to witness that your sense of honour and responsibilities is that noble… It seems like even if you do not smell like them, your souls are made of the same colour…" added the centaur with a mysterious smile, upon contemplating at the rest of the pirates then bringing back his eyes on Fuu.

Aslan was also gazing at the hazelnut-haired girl with a peaceful and caring smile. This reassuring report calmed down Robin's alert, and she let out a faint sigh of relief.

"Hum, so Fuu, you like these lizards, huh?" asked Luffy while scratching his head, not having followed at all the philosophical discussion about the equilibrium of magic but having understood that it was a topic important for his nakama, "Does it taste good or something?"

BONG. Nami's fist had rung out another time on Luffy's hand.

"She just said Dragons are sacred creatures and that it can make the world crumble if we harm them, so of course they are NOT for eating!" yelled Nami while baring her teeth.

"Ouch, but… Why are you girls always forbidding us to eat sacred things…?" grumbled Luffy while thinking back at Vivi and the big white Sea Cat in Alabasta, still massaging the red bump on his head.

Fuu slowly raised her eyes from the void in front of her and gazed at Luffy's pitiful expression while he was being lectured by his navigator. And in front of such a scene, she could only swallow back her anger and her frustration and couldn't help but laugh faintly.

"Sorry… I got carried away, a little…" finally declared she in a smile, the tone of her voice back to normal.

"So, on top of the Dragon, you were saying that the Witch had found a source of ice power… What's that exactly?" asked Sanji while lighting on a new cigarette.

"Is it some kind of artefact or ancient weapon?" carefully asked Robin, very interested and cautious about this part of the story.

"We ignore the details, unfortunately…" announced Aslan, some regrets echoing in his calm voice, "But thanks to this unknown power, this Kingdom had been trapped into a Hundred Years Winter, with the consequences you already heard about. She also used it to reshape the Palace you have visited near the Black Mountains cliff, and all her opponents have been turned into ice statues."

The cold wind of winter gusted on the fire in the centre of the circle.

"Myself, I am only able to momentarily counter her power with mine, because my magic is definitely not up to the Queen's new power…" confessed Aslan with a regretful tone, "Which is precisely the reason why we are now seeking your help…"

"Considering how powerful is your magic – my apologies, your Devil Fruits powers – we are hoping to break this Hundred Years Winter and bring the sunlight and the peace back on this country, with your contribution…" added the griffin leader with a particular glance for Ace and Fuu, whose powers he had already witnessed.

"Well, sure, you are in pretty big troubles!" groaned Zoro while massaging his neck, "But why are you telling us all of that? We're pirates! People not attached to any Kingdom, people you don't give orders to. And people fighting only to erase the one blocking the way to our dreams!"

SHIN. Zoro's remark had leaden the ambiance, as is a cold weight had fallen on the audience: the swordsman wasn't wrong, far from it, and everyone knew it, but it still made them skip a breath and feel something was wrong in what he said.

Aslan welcomed the comment with a philosophic serenity, but everyone else fidgeted more or less and unconsciously turned their eyes towards the one who was going to decide of everything.

"So, Luffy?" asked Zoro while also turning his head towards his captain, "What do you want to do?"

"Hum…" thought Luffy, his arms crossed on his chest while gazing at the fire with an expression impossible to interpret.

But Luffy's answer was delayed. A beaver employee had suddenly dashed towards them, panting, screaming and panicking at the same time.

"ALERT!" screamed she with a frightened expression, "The… the Royal Guards! They invaded the village! They are destroying all the houses in search for the Daughters of Eve and the Sons of Adam… and they… they're impaling everyone opposing them, sob…"

The comity united around the fire briskly stood up and run outside of the inn courtyard.

**

* * *

FIMBUL, WEST SIDE OF THE VILLAGE**

The surrounding setting was only chaos and desolation!

The Onsen kept by the beaver family had been spared – for now – but the same couldn't be said for the rest of the village, a hundred metres away from the inn. A strong smell of burnt wood was irritating the nose, and screams could be heard in the nightly wind.

"They came here even if they knew we could have already left on our ships?" exclaimed Nami, boiling up with incredulous rage.

"The Queen is ready to turn her own Kingdom into fire and bloodshed just to find us, it seems…" noticed Marco, shared between disbelief and bitterness.

The two leaders were already giving orders to their men to scout on the situation in the village, their face twisted with rage and sadness.

"So in the end… it's our fault… if this village is destroyed…" said Fuu in a blank tone, lowering her eyes on the snow and clenching her fists of frustration.

_My fault…? For provoking the Queen? Not only my nakamas but also all these people…?_

But Fuu self-recrimination was stopped by a huge noise.

BAM. Luffy had punched into a nearby pine, and the tree had collapsed in the snow.

"They can't do that…" muttered Luffy between his teeth before raising his eyes out of the shadow of his hat to stare in the direction of the village, "I'll make them pay for that!"

"Wait Luffy!" said Zoro while catching back his captain by the collar of his white vest, and preventing him from rushing towards the village.

"Let go of me, Zoro!" yelled Luffy, mad with anger, "This damned Queen can't do that to all these people! It's like in Skypiea: I'm fed up with all these bastards who think they can destroy people's lives and people's dreams just because they feel like it!"

"Hum…" nodded Zoro while releasing his captain, "So we're going to help them?"

"Of course we'll help them! These beavers are our friends: they prepared great baths for us, and also a lot of food, and we shared Kampais with them!" insisted Luffy with a glance for the beaver innkeeper, "And these big birds too: they helped us to leave the Palace! So we're not going to let them down! The ones the Queen is afraid of, it's US! If she has a problem with, she can come and pick a fight with us, only us! So that I can kick her ass, to this damned Witch!"

No need for the rest of the crew to wonder what such an upset Luffy had decided, and with some resigned yet friendly smiles, they all stared at their captain clenching his fists with determination:_ That's Luffy for you…_

"We're going!" declared Luffy while turning back to face his nakamas, "Captain's order!"

"No need for that…" sighed Sanji with a grin for his reckless yet trustworthy captain.

"Yeah…" muttered Zoro with a faint smile.

And the rest of the rest of the pirates heaved a little sigh while repressing a smile, and stared trustfully at the one they had decided to follow, be it in that battle or against the entire world.

"But… I mean… we're going to fight these lifeless creepy ice armours?" mumbled Usopp with his legs beginning to tremble of fear, "And this Witch, you remember she petrifies her enemy, right? Did I tell you I have the Does-not-want-to-end-up-as-an-ice-statue disease?"

Everyone stared at Usopp with a range of comical expression ranging from disappointment to resignation.

"Not that it matters, hum…" added Usopp, still shuddering but pretending to have all his composure, "If you really need me that much, the Great Usopp will shoot down that evil Witch for you!"

"For real?" asked Chopper with sparkling eyes in front of such a confident declaration.

"Hum, to be honest, Usopp, I would have another important mission for you, if you are willing to take it…" offered Fuu while thinking it would be a good way to use Usopp's incredible talent for running at full speed and using strange gadgets.

"Huh?" tilted Usopp, Luffy and Chopper, synchronically bending their heads on the same side to stare at Fuu with the same dumbfounded expression.

"I need you to go back to the Moby Dick." specified Fuu with a very serious tone, "In the drawer of the secretary in my cabin, there is a small silver hand mirror that had left me my brother. You should be able to use it to contact him. I want you to tell him about the Story of this island: from the Ice Queen to Aslan, I trust you to give him all the details. Then tells him that I found out one of the things he is looking for: he will understand what it means!"

_A paradox… A pretty obvious and huge paradox! A collision between two universes whose Stories shouldn't merge… And I hope he can come here soon, because I have no idea about how to solve this mess!_

Glad more than once to have a real reason to dodge the battle, Usopp turned towards Luffy, expecting his approval. The captain nodded and Fuu smiled a thank you grin at him. Then, she glanced at the long snowy way until the coast, and slowly put her hand on Usopp's chest, chanting silently the incantations of her 'spell', releasing the power of her Devil Fruit.

_It's pretty selfish to send him there while it's chaos everywhere… so the least I could do, it's…_

The speed 'spell', as well as the one of resistance against cold slowly melted inside Usopp under the shape of a silvery aura.

"Itterashai!" said Fuu and Chopper to bid him a safe trip, and Usopp gave them a thumb up before dashing towards the coast, splashing garbs of snowflakes at starting up.

"WOW!" exclaimed Chopper and Luffy with star-shaped eyes, "So cool!"

_Oups… maybe a bit too efficient, this speed 'spell'… _thought Fuu while repressing a smile.

"Fuu, we want the same thing!" jumped Luffy and Chopper on their hazelnut-haired nakama.

"Hey…?" muttered Fuu, taken aback by the request.

BONG. Ace's fist – this time – had rung up on his little brother's head.

And while Ace was silently muttering some reminders to a Luffy who was displaying an unusual serious face, the griffin scouts came back to make their report: in short, several hundreds of ice soldiers were presently occupying the village and keeping the inhabitants prisoners, and other detachments of Royal Guards were still coming from the Ice Palace.

"So, now that we have decided to help them, what is our plan?" asked Robin, interrupting Ace and Luffy conversation.

"We kick out the Queen's ass!" repeated Luffy while punching from his fist in his hand.

"We already heard this part!" barked Nami, Sanji and Zoro while baring their teeth.

"I think we should split up…" proposed Ace with a worried look for the far away burning village and then their beaver host, "We can't let the village without any protection…"

"You do not have to concern yourselves about us." declared Aslan with a firm and reassuring tone, "Do what you believe you should do, free and without anything pulling you back, as the pirates you are…"

Zoro glanced at Aslan and sighed, a faint smile on his lips.

"We should be able to reach a compromise…" muttered the swordsman while scanning the assembly.

"Just go!" sighed Marco with a determined look, "If we need to split up, my teammates and our griffin and centaur partners should be more than enough to repel some ice armours without life…"

The pirates were still weighting their options when suddenly:

SCHLING. Fuu had briskly spread her light shield to stop the dozen of ice spears launched by the Royal Guards who had just came out from a wood, some ten metres away from the inn.

And as to confirm his offer and give to the culprits a taste of what it cost to aim at his nakamas and friends with such a fallacious attack, Marco instantly transformed into his complete phoenix form. The blue fire bird took off in a gust of icy yet warm air, and flew over Fuu's magic wall – that was still protecting everyone from the spears – to dash towards the battalion of Royal Guards.

In a crackling of flames and a cracking of broken metal armours, the ice soldiers collapsed one by one on the floor, whipping up puffs of snow. And amidst the fog created by the clash of the Queen's black ice puppets and the immortal flames of WhiteBeard's First Commander, the back of Marco slowly appeared, back in his human form, stepping over a pile of dislocated armour pieces.

"Come on, Mugiwara! Hurry up! And try not to lose your way… Especially you, Ace: Oyaji would chew me hard-core…" declared Marco while crooking a smile at his nakama.

GROAR… In a majestic roar, Aslan started calling to their side all the rebel creatures stationed near the village and awaiting his signal. His call echoed through valleys and hills.

On their side, the silver-feathered griffin took off to join the formation of his people and launch a vanguard mission on the Royal Guards side, while the black-coated centaur had retrieved his huge double-edged axe and was flanking Aslan as a direct guard, soon joined by another ginger-coated centaur and several battalions of fantastic creatures ready to fight.

"Please do trust us with the situation here." instructed Aslan while staring straight into Luffy's eyes, "You should leave now."

Luffy nodded and turned back towards his nakamas to lead the way.

"Take care of yourself, young Fuu!" wished the black centaur with an eerie smile on his lips.

"Shall your flames destroy this endless winter!" wished the griffin with a look for Ace.

"Yosh! Since we can trust them for saving the village…" began Luffy with a determined look, leading everyone towards the Black Mountains where was built the Ice Palace at running speed, his eyes focusing on the shadows separating them from their opponents, "We are meeting with the Queen!"


	7. Ch 5: Meeting with the Queen

**THE DAY THE BENDED STORY OF ONE PIECE GOT MINGLED WITH THE SNOWS OF TIME**

…

Meeting with the Queen

…

**FIMBUL, SNOWY VALLEY**

The Mugiwaras were running across the frosty hills of Fimbul towards the Ice Palace. They had let Marco and his crewmates with Aslan back at the village to take care of countering the Royal Guards and delivering the inhabitants, while themselves had taken up the mission of 'butting the Queen's ass'.

Each snowy gust was reinforcing their focus on Queen Jadis, usurper sovereign of the throne of Fimbul and holder of an extraordinary magic of ice.

"Fuu…" finally said Robin in a low voice, while turning her head towards her running friend with a very serious expression, "Do you KNOW where the Queen is pulling her magic from? This famous 'artefact' she has found…?"

"No, Robin, I don't… And no use for looking at me that seriously, I honestly do NOT know…" answered Fuu with a little sigh, "I thought it was coming from her native sorceress powers…"

_My memories are not precise enough to remember what the source of Jadis magic was, but I could have sworn it was her own powers, hum… Weird… And the other problem: Robin now knows that I know… Well, I must concede that she is the most perceptive and sagacious person of the crew – for not saying nosy snooper – so I should have seen it coming… But I wasn't expecting her to deduce all of that. So now the question is: will I still be able to muddy the waters and cloud the issue for long…? Never minding her duplicated ears wandering where you don't expect them…_

"I trust you, you know…" cut Robin with a wholehearted yet faint smile for Fuu, "Some memories are coming to me, sometimes: images of me as a child and you caring for me… It might sound very strange, I know, but I believe these memories are real! So I deeply trust you!"

_Robin… _thought Fuu with a touched yet guilty smile.

"I trust you but don't be stupid!" added Robin with a lecturing tone mixed with a comprehensive smile, "Don't be an idiot and try to bear a burden too heavy all by yourself! I do know what I am talking about…"

_Hum… _inwardly laughed Fuu, _I indeed lectured her on something like that when she was a child… Something like trusting your nakamas and sharing your burden with them to go forward, together… But I'm afraid there isn't much people from this world can do when my responsibilities of Outsider Character are at stake…_

"Hum… I will keep it in mind…" smiled Fuu with a moved expression when watching the leather bracelet she was wearing at her right wrist – a bracelet symbolizing the bonds between her and her nakamas.

And without much more conversation, the little group of pirates finally reached the precipice separating the Palace from the rest of the mountain.

"Sh…!" exclaimed Zoro at seeing that the bridge was still missing.

"Tsk!" screeched Ace at the same notice, "I had thought that with the Royal Guards down at the village, the Queen would have made the bridge reappear, but it looks like she's cautious!"

"What do we do? Return to the village and ask the griffins for some help?" asked Robin while glancing back at the inhabitations, far away downhill in the snowy valley.

"NO!" cut Luffy with a very determined tone, "They're fighting to save their friends! So we can't bother them! We'll do it on our own!"

"Franky is not with us, Luffy." reminded Nami while regretting their blue-haired cyborg who had the fantastic ability of building bridges and tunnels out of nowhere and from nothing much.

"So, what's your plan for making us cross, Luffy?" asked Sanji while mentally measuring the forty-something metres separating them from the Palace entrance plaza.

"Hum…" thought Luffy while scratching his chin, "I don't know yet…"

CRASH. The Mugiwaras and Ace had collapsed on the ground, inwardly cursing themselves for having be it a mere second IMAGINED that Luffy could have an elaborated plan.

"So, what do we do?" repeated Robin with her usual calm impassive tone.

TLING. The Mugiwaras suddenly felt their feet leaving ground, while a golden sphere of light was surrounding them, making them float.

And slowly, the bubble of light rose several metres of altitude and progressed across the precipice.

"Wh…" muttered the Mugiwaras, dumbfounded at seeing the emptiness under them while the cupola of light was still bringing them towards the Palace.

"Fuu!" shouted Ace while turning his head towards her, his tone a mixture of anger and concern.

Fuu was at the bottom of the group, her hands joined and her eyes closed in a prayer, all her body shining of an intense golden glow and her mind entirely focused on using her Devil Fruit to safely bring everyone on the over side of the cliff.

Amidst her concentration, she did not hear Ace calling her, but she felt that some new cuts were slashing her skin under the use of her power, making the voice of WhiteBeard's Second Commander rung louder.

_Ugh! Seems like it cost me way more that I had hoped… In the end, I wonder if creating a bridge out of nowhere wouldn't have been a better idea rather than making eight people float… Well, I'll never know, I guess, since it's not like I could have saved the 'game' before using my spell and charged it afterwards to test the second alternative… Despite being into a fictional universe, life is not that simple, hum…_

The group of pirates soon landed on the other side of the precipice, and Fuu slowly resorbed her levitation 'spell' to focus now on a shield of light. Indeed, while everyone was now safely both feet on the snowy ground, the ice soldiers were still patrolling the plaza.

"Baka!" exclaimed Ace while dashing towards Fuu as soon as he was able to move out of the levitation 'spell'.

Fuu had kneeled down a bit, and was breathing with difficulty, but she had forced her eyes wide open to watch the ice armours drawing closer to them.

BOM. BOM. BOM. It had started: the Royal Guards present on the plaza had started bombarding them with their spears, and several other dozens were coming from the main entrance to get rid of the intruders who had dared landing in front of them.

But the ice spears could only rebound on Fuu's white light dome.

"That makes them nearly a hundred and a half…" muttered Nami at glancing at all the enemies gathering around the light shield, "It's going to take hours just to get rid of them…"

"We can just force our way across them while staying under Fuu's shield cover. It would allow us to enter the Palace without losing time fighting…" proposed Robin, as the good expert in infiltration missions – assassination missions – she was, "Our target is the Queen, not her Guards."

Everyone looked at Luffy, waiting for his order.

Luffy, him, had followed Nami's look towards the ice soldiers, then listened to Robin's advice, and had then glanced at Fuu, who was still panting heavily even if she had managed to get back on her feet, fighting back Ace's comments and muttering that he'd 'better not try and carry her' since she wasn't 'that tired'.

Luffy's eyes met Ace's, who seemed to have also reached his limits and was now sharing the same thoughts as his little brother.

"Fuu," called Luffy, his voice as dark as the abysses behind them, "Make your shield disappear, we're massacring them!"

The hazelnut-haired girl's eyes widened at the order, and she raised her head to look at Luffy. But before she could even protest and say she thought Robin was right, Ace's stared at her and his expression silenced her.

Knowing by experience that it was futile to try and speak these two idiots D. brothers out of what they had decided, she heaved a deep sight and dispersed her magical barrier in a crackle of stardust.

"Gomu Gomu no… Hanabi!" exclaimed Luffy while sprinting towards the Royal Guards, sending fireworks of punches and kicks towards his opponents.

"Enkai… Hiken!" exclaimed Ace while assembling flames in circle around him before launching his two fists in front of him, releasing along them the assembled fire in a devastating tsunami.

Ace's wave of fire destroyed all the ice armours already knocked out by Luffy's hits.

CLONG. Nami's and Chopper's mouths had opened wide of shock in front of the result.

Zoro and Sanji didn't even have the time to take their hands out of their pockets: the two brothers had utterly slaughtered all the ice soldiers present on the entrance plaza.

The two fighters raised an amused eyebrow, and Fuu and Robin had merely drawn a faint admiring smile on their lips while Nami and Chopper were putting their hooks back in place.

"Fuu!" suddenly called Luffy while coming back to the group, "Starting now, we're taking care of everything, so I FORBID you from using your power!"

SHIN. Luffy's declaration had stupefied everyone else, and even Ace who seemed to agree with his little brother on the object of the comment seemed surprised to have been doubled at giving the order.

"Wh… what are you talking about, Luffy?" finally asked Nami, still perplexed, "Fuu's power is really useful, and…"

"That's not the problem!" retorted Luffy while crossing his arms with an angry face, "Fuu, I know that using your Devil Fruit makes your life shorter!"

SHIN. An intense silence welcomed the comment, and everyone stared at Fuu, while Fuu was looking back at Luffy with a bewildered expression.

"Your brother told us yesterday!" added Luffy with a sulking yet determined expression.

_WHAT? They… they know? No! Then, then Ace knows too…? _thought Fuu while raising her tormented eyes towards WhiteBeard's Second Commander.

"He told us everything just before you woke up, to Oyaji, Luffy and I." confirmed Ace with a small apologetic smile at seeing Fuu look at him with such a face, "He had already told us about where the energy for your 'spells' is coming from right after Marine Ford, but yesterday, he told us how much… how much it costs you…"

And Ace's fists clenched at the last part of his sentence, though he kept his usual cool composure.

_They know that a powerful 'spell' is costing me some of my life span? Clow couldn't have told them that? Why would he tell them that? Why the hell would he want to make them worry about me? WHY? I could have dealt with it alone… I could have borne it without bothering anyone else with it… Why…?_

"Yeah!" added Luffy with a lecturing tone, while pinning his eyes in Fuu's, "We know that you Devil Fruit is pumping you all your life energy. That's why it hurts you. And it shows a lot, like right now! So I don't want you to use it again!"

_Not to use it?_

"Luffy…" began Fuu, her expression torn between contradictory feelings, "You… you can't be saying you want me to watch you fighting without doing anything on my own, could you…? I mean, without my power, I can't…"

_Without my power, I am back to being the useless girl I was when I first ended up in this world… A mere spectator, without anything for me and unable to help the ones dear to me… I don't want to get through this again! Well, I must confess using a super powerful Devil Fruit to help the heroes is something I had told myself not to do, responsibilities wise, but… but I can just stay in a supportive role and keep low profile then… Not to use it, at ALL… going back to being completely useless?_

"I don't care!" dryly cut Luffy, still staring at Fuu with hard eyes.

"Hey, Luffy!" reacted Nami and Sanji, shocked to hear Luffy saying such a heartless thing.

"I… I can't…" muttered Fuu, her voice and her hands starting trembling at the thought of letting them get hurt while she was helplessly watching it.

"You'll do it! CAPTAIN ORDER!" roared Luffy, pretty serious and pretty angry too, "I don't want you to use your power for us! We'll fight without you and that's all! Your life is more important that being hurt in battle!"

"You're right!" shouted back Fuu, completely losing her cool, which was pretty rare, "For me too: I don't care if using my power hurts me! How could I just watch you being beat up without doing anything? We're nakamas, aren't we?"

"Yeah, we're nakamas!" yelled Luffy in answer, "So just trust us and don't waste your energy for things that don't matter! Being hurt when fighting, so what? That's for protecting our nakamas that we fight!"

_Ugh… _thought Fuu, swallowing back all what she had wanted to retort, _Why are these two stupid brothers saying the same stupid thing with the same stupid straight face? Unfair!_

And she could only glance at the rest of her crewmates who were now smiling at her, unanimously agreeing with their foolish captain who had – for once – said something damned cool.

"And, well…" added Luffy with a calmer expression turning into a sulking face, "If you were using your power every time there's an obstacle, our adventure wouldn't be interesting!"

CRASH. The Mugiwaras and Ace had collapsed on the snowy ground.

_Tsk, that's the only thing important for him, in the end… Why have we thought he looked cool, for a few seconds? _thought they while stumbling back on their feet.

_Oh, my… So Luffy-like… _thought Fuu while repressing a sad smile.

"So I want you to promise me that you won't use you power starting now! And it's a pirate promise: you'd better keep it!" lectured Luffy while reaching his fist towards Fuu to invite her to conclude the pact, "And just so you know, if you don't promise me, I catapult you back to the village!"

_Tsk… Luffy's win, I guess… I can't disappoint him after such a declaration, can I…? And I know he's right, somehow… I know I shouldn't help them while I'm just an unwanted guest in this story… But how to put it, it's just that I hate me for being so useless when people dear to me are in danger… Grr… _thought Fuu while staring at the leather bracelet on her wrist.

"I… promise you…" announced Fuu with regrets tainting her voice.

And she reached out her right fist to touch Luffy's.

"Yosh!" exclaimed Luffy while retrieving his usual grin, "Then, everyone, we're going to do our best to protect Fuu!"

_Huh?_

"Fuu-chan, I'll protect you against all the enemies that could want to bother you!" declared Sanji with his usual shining knight expression, twirling around her.

"Yeah, we should be able to arrange that…" muttered Zoro with a slight smile for Fuu, while crossing his arms.

"Tsk, I should have made you promise the same thing long ago, already…" confessed Ace with his usual teasing smile, while digging back his hat on his head.

"Since the four of them are so amiably proposing you…" added Robin with a friendly smile.

"Fuu, don't worry! I'll heal you if you are hurt again because of your power!" announced Chopper while clenching his paws with determination.

"We're supposed to protect her so that she does NOT have to use her power!" reminded Nami with a lecturing tone for the little doctor.

"W… wait a second… we're supposed to take care of the QUEEN…" tried to rectify Fuu while raising her hands, a huge drop of bothered sweat appearing on her temple.

_They're not listening to me anymore… _despaired Fuu, more and more drops accumulating on her forehead, _How come they switched from 'kicking the Queen's ass' to 'protect Fuu'? I mean, I'm already a burden, don't add more to it!_

And she heaved a deep sigh at seeing Luffy very spirited and shouting war cries with Chopper, while Zoro and Sanji were fighting again on something she had not followed, and Ace, Robin and Nami were trying to plan their infiltration into the Palace the most seriously they could – Luffy's shouts not helping.

_Oh my… _thought Fuu while slapping her own forehead, before repressing an amused smile.

"Okay, let's go!" finally instructed Luffy while leading everyone inside at running speed.

**

* * *

ICE PALACE, MAIN HALL**

Nami, Robin and Fuu's long pleated dresses were glittering at each stride, enlighten by the candelabras lighting the main hall of the Ice Palace with a cold blue glow.

"We shouldn't have trouble with the Royal Guards, but the problem is with finding the Queen!" said Nami while turning towards her hazelnut-haired nakama.

"She is probably either in the Courtroom or in her own apartments: she's definitely not the type to stoop down to dirty work like going in person to 'pacify' the village…" answered Fuu, anger contained in her voice at the last part of her sentence.

"That leaves us with two places to search…" pursued Nami, her index on her cheek into a perplexed expression.

"I think it more probable for her to be waiting on her throne for the report from her soldiers rather than in her apartments, in my opinion…" conceded Fuu while mentally weighting each probability.

"What an amazing deduction, Fuu-chan!" flattered Sanji with a marvelled expression.

"What should we do, then?" asked Chopper, who was running under his animal form near the girls.

"I think we'd better split up and look for her in both places, just in case…" evaluated Nami.

"I think it would be best too…" corroborated Fuu.

"I think it is already the case…" calmly reported Robin.

"WHAT?" screamed Nami and Fuu while turning back to notice with horror that there wasn't anyone behind them anymore.

The little group stopped right in the middle of the hall.

"Luffy?" called Nami, stunned.

"Ace?" called Fuu, blinking with stupefaction.

"Zoro?" called Chopper, sweat-dropping with incredulity.

"Where the hell are these three idiots?" shouted the three of them while baring their teeth.

**

* * *

ICE PALACE, QUEEN'S GARDEN**

Luffy was sitting cross-legged on the pedestal of one of the ice statues adorning the snowy garden, with a frankly lost expression.

"Hum… that's very strange! Why is it only me by myself? Where are the others?" wondered Luffy while putting his hand at the level of his eyes to scrutinize his surroundings.

But at this moment, several ice soldiers surrounded him by coming from the ice archways, pointing their spears at him.

They kept their position with menacing poses, but under seeing their target not reacting, the Guard leading the battalion made a small gesture to give the order to attack the intruder.

And the ice soldiers charged the still-puzzled-and-not-alert Luffy. He still jumped to dodge the attack and glared back at his opponents.

"Tsk…" groaned Luffy at the interruption, "Gomu Gomu no… Gatling!"

The volley of punches fell on the ice soldiers, projecting a gust of ice dust in the air, and Luffy finally swiftly landed near the pile of smashed armours.

He dusted away his hands, still looking unconcerned, and turned left, then right, then straight in front of him, before crossing his arms with still a lost expression.

"Hum… I should have asked them the way before crushing them!" muttered he with a sulking and bored expression.

He dug his hat back on his head and put his hands on each part of his mouth.

"Nami? Everyone? Where are you?" shouted Luffy, his voice reverberating in the cloister of the snowy garden.

**

* * *

ICE PALACE, ROYAL APARTMENTS CORRIDOR**

"Tsk! What the…? I can't believe this bunch of idiots got lost!" groaned Zoro at suddenly realizing he was alone.

He looked at the empty corridor behind and in front of him.

_I remember this corridor… I think it's the one where was our bedroom: I can still smell the electric burn smell from when Fuu broke the Witch's barrier…_

"Oh well, there's only one way, after all! So they should be able to catch up with me…" sighed the swordsman while gazing at the long straight passage bordered with ice stained windows.

And Zoro walked on at a nonchalant pace, his forearm coolly resting on the hilts of his katanas.

**

* * *

ICE PALACE, BASEMENT**

"Fuu?" loudly called Ace.

Ace was standing on a puddle of grey water – last remnants of the pile of metallic carcasses of the ice soldiers that had just enjoyed an 'Hiken' – at the bottom of the stairs leading down to the dungeons.

The – former – battalion of Royal Guards had had the bad idea of thinking about ambushing the Mugiwaras in the main hall, but Ace had immediately – and silently – countered, getting rid of the whole detachment emerging from the underground passage.

"Tsk, I got distracted by the guards and lost sight of them…" groaned Ace while massaging his neck, "Well, I guess I could climb up back to the main hall and search for them, but…"

Ace glanced at the dark corridor leading to the basement and from which he could sense a huge and powerful presence.

"Hum…" paused he while weighting his options and which one would be more interesting, "It should be fine… After all, this Baka-Otouto and the others are with her…"

Ace turned his head towards the aforementioned corridor. Some rattling noise of frosty metal could be heard from it, and were slowly getting closer.

"Hotarubi." called he while sending a swarm of green fireflies lighten the dark passage.

And while making flames emerge from several parts of his body, Ace took the corridor, ready to face whoever had had the suicidal idea of coming to him.

**

* * *

ICE PALACE, MAIN HALL**

"I think it would be best to do without them for now…" sighed Robin while repressing a smile at remembering a perfectly similar occurrence at Skypiea.

"Don't worry Nami-san! I'll protect you with my life!" twirled Sanji with marvelling heart-shaped eyes.

"That's Fuu we need to protect!" reminded Nami while baring her teeth at the love-cook.

"I could perfectly protect myself…" remarked Fuu with a sigh.

"No, I agree with Luffy: trust us!" retorted Nami while diverting her attention from Sanji to Fuu.

And she stared at her nakama with resolve, until Fuu finally looked away, admitting her loss in another helpless sigh.

"But honestly…" muttered Nami while scratching her head, a bit – a lot – annoyed, "How can this baka say 'I take care of everything starting now' and a few minutes after that disappear like an idiot, lost at the first crossing…"

_Indeed! Considering the situation, this promise shouldn't be valid anymore… I mean, we have actually split up in several teams, but our strike force has not been shared equitably… _thought Fuu with a glance for her present crewmates, _On top of them not being the most powerful fighters, I can't bother them with being a burden, on top of that, can I? Though I guess our hard-headed stubborn captain won't consider this excuse a good enough – for him – motive to break my promise… Sigh…_

Chopper had raised his eyes to gaze at Fuu, who was still lost in her thoughts, as if mentally scanning several options.

"It's a pirate promise!" reminded Chopper with a serious tone, "And I think Luffy is right, Fuu!"

Fuu flinched and stared at their little reindeer wondering if she had spoken her thoughts out loud or something.

"You need to trust your nakamas!" insisted Chopper while staring determinedly at her.

Fuu stared back at the little reindeer's serious expression and finally heaved the third resignation sigh of these last minutes.

_A hopeless bunch of reckless fools… _muttered she to herself, while repressing a laugh at the thought that it was for this very reason that she was so fond of them.

"I know it looks bad because we've lost the three strongest…" added Chopper, making Sanji tilt at the remark, but the cook calmed down upon hearing the rest of the sentence: "But we'll still protect you! Me too, I don't like my nakamas getting hurt without being able to do anything… But you've got to trust us!"

Nami, Robin and Sanji smiled at their little nakama who seemed to have matured enough to tell someone else to count on him.

_Seems like some months apart have made every one of us grow a bit stronger… _thought they with a faint conniving expression.

"My loss…" mumbled Fuu while contemplating her nakamas, before adding in a louder tone: "I guess we'll just do without them, then…"

"Don't worry about them, Fuu-chan!" reassured Sanji upon seeing Fuu's troubled face, "That's these three idiots we're talking about! They'll be alright!"

_Well… It wasn't about THEM that I was worried, but about YOU! I mean, if the Queen finds us before we can reunite, Nami, Robin or Chopper won't weight heavy in the balance, Sanji has as for motto not to fight against any woman, and since I can't use my powers, I'm as good as totally useless… I won't even be able to protect them…_

_Tsk, instead of giving me a Devil Fruit, my stupid brother should have made me super skilled at martial arts or swordsmanship, like some implementation and conditioning training from The Matrix, I don't know… Just being a bit sportive in our world doesn't weight for much here, grr… But then again, I guess he just chose the easy way and gave me a Devil Fruit – a nonsensical and way too powerful one, too… Not his usual work, hum… So I guess it means he never took my presence in this world seriously or he would have chiselled my 'OC' way better: I don't know if I should feel depressed or angry about that…_

"In any case, we're only going to infiltrate and recognize the place until our three idiots are back…" said Nami, pulling back Fuu from her thoughts.

"In that case, there is something interesting me on this side." announced Robin while pointing at a very huge room on their left, "Please keep on without me: I'll try and find some useful information on the source of the Queen's power meanwhile."

And Robin walked away towards the aforementioned high-ceiling room, letting her four other crewmates look at each other with depressed expression.

"Robin-chan… Don't be so cold with me…" cried Sanji with a pitiful doggy expression.

"Even Robin is abandoning us…" exclaimed Chopper with a worried expression, more and more drops of cold sweats running down his face.

Even Nami had gulped down with an apprehensive glance for the back of Robin drawing away.

_Oh my, and one fighter less in our group, now… _inwardly sighed Fuu with a look for the three others, _I shouldn't have made this promise… Definitely… Or rather, I shouldn't have made this promise knowing that it could turn sour as long as it involved Luffy's and the others orientation sense!_

"Well, then let's just try to localize the Queen, so that we will be able to give some precious information to our three lost sheep when they will be coming back…" proposed Fuu while pointing at the corridor leading towards the Courtroom.

"Yep, we're going to make a DISCREET infiltration mission!" nodded Nami.

"And a SILENT one!" added Chopper.

"Then it's decided!" said Sanji while taking the lead of the group, in case they would encounter bad guys wanting to hurt his precious damsels.

_Tsk, Luffy… Where are you at such a time? Baka…! _thought Nami while repressing her concern.

**

* * *

ICE PALACE, ROYAL KITCHENS**

"Great!" jumped with joy Luffy upon arriving in the room, "I was right to follow this good smell!"

And while already salivating, he pounced on the tables and the cupboards, rummaging everywhere in the kitchen, his cheeks inflating at each new food he was encountering.

He was now sitting cross-legged on a table, chewing what the black hole he had as a mouth had allowed him to stock in, when a little group of ten ice warriors entered the kitchen and surrounded him.

They were looking just like the Royal Guards, except that their ice armour was red and not blue. After a short silence, one of them stepped forward to face the pirate.

"Our Queen doesn't approve of your alliance with Aslan: if you do not change side, you will have to die!" announced the one who seemed to be the Commandant of the battalion on an icy and monochord tone.

But Luffy wasn't even listening, entirely dedicated to savour his food. His expressionless eyes were still looking in the direction of the Red Guards but without him really focusing on them.

_Hum… They look like the soldiers Ace and me crushed at the entrance… _thought he still without seeming to focus on the Commandant.

The latter took the lack of reaction from Luffy as a blatant answer, and instructed his troop to attack.

Ten red ice spears rushed towards the inflated-by-all-the-food belly of Luffy. They of course rebounded on it instantly before falling on the floor with a metallic crash. If the lifeless armours had had emotions, their jaws would have unhooked of stupefaction.

"Ouch! But it hurts!" cried Luffy, tears tinkling in the corners of his eyes, "No one has told you it's not polite to bother someone eating?"

And Luffy quickly gulped down all the food left in his mouth before jumping on his feet, really on his nerves.

"Gear… Third!" called he while biting his thumb to inflate air into it.

The Red Guards had understood their target was preparing to counterattack and draw their ice swords to point them in his direction.

But they couldn't avoid what was coming their way: Luffy had jumped towards the high ceiling, the air inside his body swiftly changing its direction to go and grow another member of his body.

"Gomu Gomu no… Gigant Stamp!" shouted Luffy while smashing the Red Guards on the ground in a thunder of frosty dust, the kitchen ice tiles denting deeply under the impact.

Not a single guard escaped the slaughter, while Luffy was landing in Chibi form next to the remnants of the ten red ice armours.

He nearly instantly retrieved his normal size and straightened his straw hat on his head, before suddenly punching in his hand as if he had just remembered something.

"NO!" yelled Luffy while taking his head in his hands as if he had realised what he had forgotten, "I forgot to ask them the way to the Queen!"

SHIN. Silence welcomed the hard realisation of Luffy.

"Hum, too bad…" calmly concluded Luffy while retrieving his usual stern expression, "I'll try… this way!"

And Luffy walked towards a corridor on his right, but not without taking in his pockets several pieces of meat before leaving the kitchens.

**

* * *

ICE PALACE, MAIN HALL**

"If we keep on going straight ahead, we should reach the Royal Courtroom, and we could make it certain that the Queen is there or not." said Nami while turning towards Fuu when they reached a crossing of corridors.

"I think I remember so, too… But Nami, we'd better not enter the courtroom through the main door is the Queen really is inside…" hesitated Fuu while looking worriedly at the two choices displaying before them.

"I… it's true…" remarked Chopper while beginning to shudder, "Luffy, Zoro and Ace had not came back yet, so…"

"Don't worry, my two goddesses! I'll protect you from all harm!" claimed Sanji while twirling around Nami and Fuu, making the two girls sigh with resignation.

_I can admit Sanji can really act like a knight in shining armour when he feels like it, but… it's precisely this gallant side of him that would be a problem if we were to confront directly the Queen… He had no trouble to send flying and crush the Royal Guards with deadly kicks, but… _considered Fuu at the thought of the ice soldiers they had met on their way, and which had ended up in minced meat under the 'Extra Haché' attack of Sanji.

Fuu glanced at her blond nakama with a worried expression, and she saw Nami seeming as much concerned about their gentleman. She shot a look at her and they both nodded.

"Lateral entrance?" asked Fuu in a rhetorical tone.

"Lateral entrance!" confirmed Nami with a conniving expression.

"Well, I vaguely remember the configuration of the Royal Courtroom." reported Fuu, her mind on her chin while searching her memory, "It was disposed as the central nave of a cathedral, so there should be lateral aisles, just before the flight of stairs leading to the Queen's throne…"

"Right! I remember the feeling of airstream coming from the right and the left…" added Nami, also trying to remember the disposition of the room, "Knowing that air currents move from smaller corridors into wider spaces like this courtroom, it means the aisles are not annexed alcoves, but open passages!"

"So if we take the right corridor here… she should be able to get round the main entrance…" estimated Fuu.

"And if we turn once more on the left after a couple hundred metres, it should bring us back to the courtroom, but through lateral entrances…" pursued Nami.

"Distances seems right to me…" validated Fuu.

"Nami-swan, Fuu-chwan, you're heavenly smart…" marvelled Sanji, his eyes in heart-shape and his body liquefied of admiration if front or the architectural discussion between his two goddesses.

"Sure, sure…" sighed Nami while keeping the cook out of reach with the palm of her hand.

_How can Sanji be dead serious when attacking battalions of Royal Guards and be ironically foolish when he's speaking to us, just a few minutes after that? And how come 'heavenly smart': that was basic geometry!_

And Fuu smiled at the little show between the love-cook and his goddess-navigator. But the smile fainted away quickly, and she glanced back in the corridor behind them with a worried sigh.

"Fuu, what is wrong?" asked Chopper to his nakama, "I think it's a great plan, what Nami and you have said about spying on the Queen… So why don't you seem happy?"

"Well… It's indeed a good infiltration plan, but avoiding the direct path won't help our three idiots to reunite with us…" mumbled Fuu while thinking about the one able to retrace his own steps on a straight line, the one always following straight lines without caring where they were going, and the one not caring about going it alone and just waiting to meet back with everyone by chance.

**

* * *

ICE PALACE, THREE DIFFERENT PLACES**

"Achaaaaa!" chimed in unison the sneezes of the three aforementioned idiots.


	8. Ch 6: The Ice Dragon

**THE DAY THE BENDED STORY OF ONE PIECE GOT MINGLED WITH THE SNOWS OF TIME**

…

Fate of a Sacred Creature, Fire VS. Ice

…

**FIMBUL, ICE PALACE, BASEMENT**

"Hum?" wondered Ace upon finally leaving the dungeons corridors.

He was now standing at the entrance of an immense cavern with walls of icy rock. It seemed to be part of the basement, but its ceiling was lost out of sight at several dozens of metres of height.

"Where did I end up?" muttered he while letting his eyes getting accustomed to the darkness surrounding him.

He then gazed at the long alley on his left. The corridor was bordered by rooms closed with ice bars, and each of the frosty cells was occupied by a fantastic creature: unicorn, minotaur, nymph…

_They should be the leaders of the people of this Kingdom… _thought Ace while remembering what the griffin leader had said during their meeting at the inn.

"These bars bring back awful memories…" screeched he between his teeth, the scene of the creatures prisoned here layering on his how-so-fresh memories of Impel Down.

Ace cautiously touched the bluish walls made of ice, a bit afraid of getting electrocuted like Fuu and Marco had been back in their apartments against the Queen's magical barrier, but nothing similar happened.

_Good… _thought he with a grin, before lighting his fist with intense orange flames.

"Kagero!" called Ace while sending a stream of fire against the wall of the cell where a pegasus was held captive.

The bars received the discharge at full power and melted in a few seconds, startling the prisoner.

_My Devil Fruit is decidedly very useful in this Ice world… _thought Ace while repressing a satisfied smile and pushing up the border of his hat with his still-enflamed index.

"My apologies for disrupting your stay here. My name is Portgas D. Ace." introduced himself the Second Commander of WhiteBeard's Fleet while bowing very politely, "I'm afraid things are currently in an uproar in this Kingdom."

"You are… a Son of Adam?" exclaimed the winged horse, flabbergasted.

"Correct!" answered Ace with a confident grin for the pegasus whose forehead was adorned by an amethyst, "Your King has asked us to lend him a hand…"

"Aslan has begun the war against the White Witch?" bellowed the white-furred minotaur in the nearby cell.

"He's currently in the village downhill, fighting against the Royal Guards army." reported Ace with a neutral tone.

A whisper spread quickly from cell to cell, like a rustle of stupefaction mixed with excitement and apprehension.

"If King Aslan is fighting, my people need to support him…" thought out loud the pegasus, seeming deeply concerned about the news.

"I think that all assistance will be welcome, indeed…" answered Ace with a calm smile.

"Have you come to free us from these dungeons for this reason?" asked an emerald-haired nymph from behind the bars of her cell, her eyes shining with hope and gratefulness.

_Hum… Seems like a pretty good idea, while I'm at it… _thought Ace while sizing up the number of cells, _Besides, I think I've taken prisons in horror, recently!_

"Sure, if everyone could amiably step away from the doors…" warned Ace with his usual polite tone.

All the fantastic creatures obeyed and waited to see what could be planning the Son of Adam.

"Hiken!" called Ace while sending a fire fist graze the line of ice walls, making all the bluish frozen doors melt at passing.

"WOW!" marvelled all the prisoners while stepping out from their lockups with ecstatic expressions.

"If you take this corridor, you will reach the stairs leading to the entrance gate of the Palace." explained Ace while pointing at the passage he had been coming from, sending another swarm of green-flamed fireflies lighten the way.

Everyone was still gaping in admiration at this new proof of power when Ace turned back towards the pegasus leader.

"All the Royal Guards along the way and at the entrance have been destroyed, but the ice bridge leading to the other part of the mountain is missing." reported he with a serious expression, "But I'm sure you and your people will be able to help everyone safely across the precipice."

"Most certainly! We will be equal to the task you entrusted us." affirmed the amethyst pegasus with a short reverence.

"Our people will be eternally grateful for your help." added the diamond unicorn while kneeling down to pay her respect to the one who had delivered them.

"You are a Hero, Son of Adam!" chimed in the emerald-haired nymph, before also thanking Ace with a soft kiss on his cheek, "My people will sing your exploits for the centuries to come!"

And on these goodbyes, the fantastic creatures left through the passage enlighten by Ace's 'Hotarubi'.

_Oups… Hopefully, Fuu didn't see that… _thought Ace while brushing his cheek under his fingers, at the place where still lingered the nymph's kiss sensation.

And he suddenly felt his cheeks becoming way redder than usual and cursed himself mentally: _Tsk, I'm an idiot! We're not a couple: she said it herself! So why would she be jealous over something like that?_

**

* * *

ICE PALACE, MAIN HALL**

"Aaaaachiii…" softly sneezed Fuu.

"Fuu-chan! Did you catch a cold?" exclaimed Sanji, his expression a mixture of concern and perverted delight, "Do you need me to warm you up? Body heat is definitely the best in these kind of situation: a word, a sign, and I'll be all yours!"

BONG. Nami's fist had rung on the head of their love-cook.

"Idiot!" ranted she, a vein bulging on her temple.

She then turned towards her nakama with alarm.

"Fuu, are you okay? Is it the after-effect of using your power, as Luffy has told us?" asked she with a worried look.

"No, not at all…" answered Fuu, a bit surprised by Nami's conjecture.

"For real?" suspiciously questioned Nami while arching an eyebrow.

"Of course!" insisted Fuu with a smile.

"Do you want me to examine you?" asked Chopper with a seemingly worried expression, "Maybe the pill effect is wearing off…"

"No, it's not that…" reassured Fuu with still an apprehension at the thought of the pill effect potentially disappearing soon and her exhaustion catching her back, "And I didn't catch a cold either…"

"Hum…" paused Chopper with a sulking expression.

"Then," pursued Nami with a sudden cunning smile spreading on her lips, "Someone must be speaking about you!"

"Huh?" wondered Fuu while bending her head on the side in a perplexed expression.

_Talking about me? Because I sneezed? Is there a sign like that in the Japanese culture?_

"Yep, someone who is probably concerned about you…" added Nami with a teasing expression for her clueless nakama.

_And I have a pretty good idea of who it might be… _thought Nami while her grin was growing more amused.

**

* * *

ICE PALACE, BASEMENT CAVERN**

Ace was gazing at the wide and dark ice grotto in front of him.

"So… where am I heading now?" wondered he while massaging his neck.

He looked up at the ceiling: at some sixty metres from the ground, he could see Fimbul's starry sky glittering through the translucent roof of bluish ice.

_Too high… On that one, Fuu's wings would have been quite useful… _thought he before stopping abruptly his train of thoughts and shaking his head from left to right, _Stupid! What the hell am I thinking? She's in no fit shape to use her power! And besides, since when am I counting on someone – on a girl – to pull me out of a pitfall? Grr, so not like me…_

Ace finally stopped his battle with himself and glanced left and right.

_I came here because I had felt a powerful presence, but it fainted away, tsk…_

"Hotarubi." called once more Ace while sending his fireflies-flames lighten the ice cavern and determine its perimeter.

_Hey?_

Ace had caught sight of an immense silhouette at the bottom of the grotto. The lying shadow was four or five metres high and was inflating and deflating at the rhythm of a slow breathing.

_What the hell is that?_

Ace cautiously drew closer, until being only a couple of metres away from the mysterious creature, and his eyes widened when he saw what was sleeping in front of him.

Its wings folded on its back as would do a seagull resting on a ship mast, the huge silver-scaled reptile was apparently taking a nap, though hobbled by heavy chains riveted to the walls of the cavern.

"A… Dragon?" mumbled Ace in a whisper, while remembering the recent conversation around the fire and Robin's description.

_I understand why this cavern is so huge, now…_ thought he while gazing at the already-huge-despite-his crouching-position creature.

The slow breathing suddenly stopped, and Ace's eyes wandered towards the reptile's head.

The now-awake Dragon was contemplating the human, staring at him with its garnet pupils.

Seconds slowly flew by, Ace upholding its stare.

The Dragon then huddled up with a menacing growl and opened wide its mouth: a sphere of icy wind started accumulating between its fangs, the fantastic creature ready to send an ice attack to the intruder who had made irruption in the cavern.

"I wouldn't do that, if I were you…" warned Ace on a calm tone, but his aura getting charged with threatening warnings.

The Dragon gazed at the human, and several seconds more flew silently on the scene.

Then, the creature calmly closed his mouth, stifling the attack it had been ready to launch. It stared at Ace, as if to sound him out, its garnet eyes glittering with an intense flame of intelligence and wisdom.

Ace didn't move an inch and gazed straightforwardly at the Dragon, and he finally saw his opponent abandoning his menacing position and resuming his nap position.

"Hum…" smiled Ace with a faint nodding expression.

TILT. WhiteBeard's Second Commander briskly lifted his head towards the gallery running above the Dragon's den, searching for the aggressive presence he had suddenly felt.

"What do you think yourself allowed to do, Ice Dragon? Our Queen ordered you to kill any intruder! No exception will be tolerated: why did you stop your attack? I order you to kill this Human!" rose a frosty masculine voice.

Ace narrowed his eyes and glared at the one who had spoken: a fantastic creature mid-human mid-ice panther with the build of a trained warrior was standing in the dimly lit darkness. He reminded him of a Zoan on his terminal form, even if Ace could tell it wasn't a Devil Fruit user he had in front of his eyes.

On his side, the Dragon merely turned his head towards the one standing on the gallery and shot a calm yet resolved look at the panther-hybrid, seemingly not disposed to obey his order.

"Oh? You dare and rebel against this order?" screeched the ice panther, "You perfectly know that you have no such liberty!"

And the hybrid swiftly jumped from the gallery to land right on the neck of the Ice Dragon. He seized the silver reins harnessing the creature and activated them, liberating the spell casted by Queen Jadis that was giving control over the Dragon to anyone using this bridle.

BAM. In a flash of magic, the four heavy chains fell on the ground in a loud noise of metal, freeing the Dragon from his shackles.

Ace clenched his fists at seeing the fantastic creature stood up in fighting position.

"I don't know how you managed to come her, Human, but our Queen wish to see you dead, you and your companions… and her desires are orders!" claimed the panther-warrior while making the mouth of the Dragon turn towards Ace.

"Tsk…" ranted Ace while jumping on the side to dodge the fangs of the creature coming after him.

The ballet of the Dragon's fangs and Ace's avoiding them lasted a couple of rounds, under the chiming sadistic laugh of the panther-hybrid.

"Ice Dragon: Ice Blast!" called the Queen's minion while pulling on the silver reins when seeing an opening in Ace's reflexes.

The Dragon opened its mouth, and the sphere of icy air accumulating inside it quickly took the shape of a deadly powerful frosting discharge.

"Kyokahen!" called Ace while building up a mirror of flames around him.

The fire withered the ice, but the strength of the gust at such low distance still sent him flying backward in the sizzling crackle of the ice dust getting devoured by the flames of the protection wall.

"Grr…" roared Ace while staring at his opponent after having re-established his position.

"Oh?" whistled the panther-warrior with an amused expression bordering on the sadism, "It would seem that this human have some tricks up his sleeve… A magic of fire, hum? Ice Dragon: Thorn Whip!"

The Dragon moaned a pitiful complaining roar but complied under the constraints of the reins order. Its long pointed tail run like lightning towards Ace and forcefully pierced him right though his chest.

"Perfect…" grinned the panther-warrior, "The Queen will be pleased to hear that already one of these humans is out of her way…"

"You should stop your little tricks…" rose a masculine voice.

TILT. The panther-hybrid instantly stopped grinning and stared at his opponent in disbelief.

"Come down to fight like a man!" warned Ace in a provocative smile, the wound caused by the Dragon's tail closing down in a crackle of flames.

"Wh…?" exclaimed the panther-warrior at seeing Ace's bare and unharmed chest through the hole in his pierced white shirt.

"Shinka: Shiranui!" called Ace while materializing flames in his hand and throwing a spear of sacred fire straight at his still-dumbfounded opponent.

But the ice panther reacted quickly and pulled on the silver reins to force his mount right between him and the fire spear.

And the Ice Dragon moaned a rattle of pain when the spear sunk deeply in his neck, under the revolted and bitter expression of the Second Commander of WhiteBeard's Fleet.

"Bastard…!" roared Ace between his teeth, while getting in position to counterattack.

"Ice Dragon: Hail Storm!" called the panther-warrior while pulling once more on the silver bridle.

"Tsk!" ranted Ace while raising his eyes towards the ceiling where the new magic was gathering.

A mass of huge needle-shaped hailstones was starting to accumulate above his head, under the call of the Dragon's magic.

"Enkai…" called Ace while building up flames in circles around him, "Hibashira!"

A column of fire rose from the concentric circles and dashed towards the heights, melting the major part of the still-forming hailstones in the process. A major part but not all, unfortunately… And before Ace could distinguish what was still waiting for him in the fog of pulverized melted ice:

"Die!" shouted the panther-warrior while bringing down the reins, forcing the Dragon to release his tempest of hailstones on the human facing him.

The ice needles beat down on Ace, crackling in a twirl of flames and ice dust.

The panther-warrior watched with evident satisfaction at the thick smoke coming from the remnants of fire and ice, smoke rising from where was most certainly the now dead body of his opponent.

"Behind you…" roared a voice behind the ice panther, followed by a huge burning pain.

Ace had sent a flaming punch in the low back of the panther-warrior.

"Urgh!" moaned the Queen's minion while releasing from one hand the Dragon's reins to draw his sabre and counter-attack.

But the swing only cut emptiness: Ace had already jumped back at the Dragon's feet and was looking up and down at his opponent with an irritating arrogant smile.

"I told you: just climb down from here and come and fight!" announced he with a menacing tone.

The face of the panther-hybrid was twisted with anger and panic at realizing the human was still alive. But his expression relaxed a bit at seeing that if Ace was alive, he wasn't unharmed: numerous scars were now spreading on his bare chest and arms, the wounds received by the ice needles having closed down in a crackle of Logia regenerating flames, but still leaving deep frostbites marks on his skin.

The panther-warrior grinned evilly.

"Why would I?" provoked he with an arrogant smile, "I don't need to come down to massacre you: this worthless animal is more than enough for taking care of you!"

And he pulled harder on the Dragon's reins, making the creature howl a pitiful moan of pain.

Ace's eyes hardened.

"Ice Dragon: Ice Blast!" ordered the panther-warrior while pointing his own sabre of blue ice towards his target.

Ace clenched his fists on seeing the prisoned dragon complying with the order and furiously countered with a 'Hiken'. The stream of devastator fire leaving his fist exploded against the discharge of freezing wind belched out by the Ice Dragon.

The two powers collided and fought each other for long seconds, sometimes losing ground, sometimes overcoming the other, but they ended up destroying each other in a titanic sphere of incandescent light.

"Hail Storm!" immediately pursued the panther-warrior with another pull on the silver reins, his sadistic laugh lost in the wake of the previous devastator attack.

Ace only had time enough to cross his arms in front of his face to protect himself from the shower of ice needles that fell once more on him.

Numerous scars added themselves to the ones he had already received, the blades of ice melting away in the flames of his body but always letting hard frostbites.

_Tsk… These damned ice scalds! _thought Ace while clenching his teeth at the pain of the burn marks spreading through his entire body.

"Jujika!" called he while crossing his two indexes in cross-shape in front of him and aiming at the chest of the panther-hybrid.

A cross-shaped ray of light emanated from his fingers and locked on the target, soon followed by a column of fire which deeply burnt Ace's opponent, making the panther-warrior let go of the Ice Dragon's reins to grab his chest and try to get rid of the devouring fire.

_Now… _thought Ace while swiftly jumping towards his opponent.

With a quick rotating kick, he made the panther-warrior lose his balance, before throwing him to the ground with an elbow hit on the neck.

Ace then assembled fire in his fist and launched a violent discharge towards the panther-hybrid, pushing him far away from the Dragon.

In a nimble jump, he himself got down from the Ice Dragon and resumed his battling position, waiting to see if his opponent had survived the hit or not.

"Humph… Humans are really irritating creatures!" screeched the panther-warrior while slowly getting back on his feet and wiping away the trickle of black blood from his lips, "I will have to make you disappear by myself!"

"Don't come and complain I didn't warn you…" answered Ace on a cool tone but his eyes as dark as the steel, "You should have come down since the beginning… Now, I'm quite pissed off!"

The panther-warrior stared at his opponent with a slightly puzzled opponent. Ace glared back at him, and finally shot a quick worried look for the fire spear still dug into the Ice Dragon's neck. He cautiously lifted one arm out of his guard position and repatriated the flames back in his hand.

The panther-hybrid's eyes widened in disbelief at seeing his human opponent giving a faint smile at the silver-scaled reptile.

"What exactly do you think you are doing?" asked he, both perplexed and annoyed, "Could it be pity?"

"None of that…" retorted Ace with still the same resolved expression.

"Besides, if I remember correctly, you have never attacked directly this worthless creature…" pursued the panther-warrior with a disgusted and doubtful expression.

Ace's eyes hardened upon hearing the comment but chose not to answer. His opponent then shot a glance at the Ice Dragon behind him.

"Could you have focused all of your attack on me on purpose…?" tried the ice panther as if not understanding the logic behind such a supposition, "Why would you?"

Ace raised an eyebrow in a provocative expression and displayed his most annoying confident smile.

"I don't think I need to justify that… especially to someone like you!" mocked he in a very arrogant expression, "Though if you want at least one reason, let me tell you there is a girl who deeply respect this Ice Dragon… and I wouldn't want her to hate me for having hurt it!"

"Nonsense!" shouted the panther-warrior while dusting away the remark with a quick gesture from his hand, "This creature is merely a magic reservoir for our Queen! If it had only been my decision, it would have been long since we had gotten rid of it…"

"Then it's fortunate it's not only your decision…" thundered Ace while clenching his fists in rage.

"For such a stupid reason?" exclaimed the panther-hybrid while still looking at his opponent with a disbelieving expression, "You are in that state because of such a senseless reason…? Then be ready to die for it!"

And the panther-warrior dashed towards his opponent, his bluish ice sabre armed. Ace barely dodged, utterly surprised by the superhuman speed his opponent had attacked with, and the sabre of blue ice grazed his right shoulder.

_What? _tilted Ace, dumbfounded, upon looking at the wound.

Despite him using his Logia ability to counter the attack, the blade hadn't gone through his body but had cut him. The cut had then instantly frozen, before exploding in a myriad of ice fragments under the pressure of Ace's regenerating flames, leaving a hurtful frostbite on his shoulder.

_Tsk! _groaned the Second Commander of WhiteBeard while clenching his teeth, _These ice attacks seriously begin to get on my nerves…!_

"Hum…" had smirked the panther-warrior upon noticing the impact of his attack.

And he began throwing several more launches at Ace with a sadistic smile.

"Kyokahen!" called Ace while pushing away his opponent with a moving wall of fire.

But the panther-hybrid had nimbly jumped backward, dodging the mirror of flames which had managed to counter his sabre hits.

"Higan!" called Ace while pointing his fingers in revolver-shape at his opponents and firing flames bullets in his direction.

But the panther-warrior was too fast, even for Ace, and he had no trouble avoiding the discharge. Amidst the deafening noise of the 'Higan' shots, he run in quadrant around Ace, before dashing towards him by the right side and jump above him, targeting the creature in his back.

"As if I would let you do that again, bastard!" roared Ace at immediately understanding his attempt to control the Ice Dragon again and use it to his advantage, "Enjomo!"

A wall of high flames surrounded the Dragon, protecting it from being controlled again by the panther-warrior. But the latter didn't seem bothered by the interference: he switched to his alternative strategy.

Changing direction in mid-air, he twisted his body and dived towards Ace to impale him with his sabre. WhiteBeard's Second Commander couldn't entirely avoid it, and the ice blade left a deep wound on his left leg.

Ace swallowed back a cursing word: before he had had the chance to counterattack, the panther-warrior had resumed his position out of reach, distancing himself in a few jumps.

"Humph…" snorted the Queen's minion, "You truly are pathetic! Getting hurt once more just to protect this worthless creature… What interest could there be for you to save it? Are you not a fire user? You should be enemies by birth…"

"Sorry, but this kind of… prejudices… don't really touch me…" retorted Ace with a frosty glare, "After all, it had been proclaimed some time ago that I was 'enemy by birth' of the entire world, just because of the blood running in my veins… So adding an Ice Dragon to that or not…"

_However… _thought he with a smile springing on his lips.

"However," retorted he with a softer voice and eyes shining with determination, "There is someone in this same world that I do not wish to disappoint… a baka caring for the life of others and worrying about the equilibrium of magic on these lands…"

"Tsk…" smirked the panther-warrior, "You are nonetheless going to disappoint her… by dying!"

And he dashed towards Ace, his sabre in a horizontal stance and aiming straight at his opponent's heart.

"Hiken!" countered Ace while sending a violent column of fire at him.

The powerful deflagration bounced on the blade of the panther-warrior, who tumbled back a few steps under the shock, but didn't seem affected more than that.

He nimbly landed on his feet, pulling himself up nearly instantly, and dashed once more towards Ace, lacerating his forearms of new frostbiting cuts before resuming his position far away in the back.

_Grr… That damned coward is distancing himself has soon as he has landed a hit… Cautiously and efficiently… And even if it sucks to admit it, my speed is not up to his level! Who cares if I'm stronger: my firepower is useless if I can't touch him… _thought Ace while looking at his barely-hit opponent.

The fire wall isolating the Dragon was starting to grind along Ace's endurance, and WhiteBeard's Second Commander couldn't help shooting a worried look in his direction, mentally weighting what his remaining options would cost him.

The situation stayed on a stand-still during long seconds.

"Enkai…" finally called Ace, spreading his flames on the ground of the frozen rocky ground of the cavern.

The panther-warrior stared apprehensively at the flames, tightening his guard and cautiously eyeing Ace. But his expression suddenly crumbled into a flabbergasted face when he saw all the fire accumulated suddenly evaporating into small green bubbles of light resembling fireflies.

"Hotarubi…" had whispered Ace, his two hands slowly guiding the 'fireflies'.

Ace raised his eyes out of the shadow of his hat and watched at the green flying flames floating closer towards his target.

"Hidaruma!" called her fiercely, making the flames instantly converge towards the panther-warrior and set him in fire.

"Urgh!" yelled his opponent in a scream of surprise while patting his fur in panic to try and deaden the fire.

Ace glanced back briefly behind his back and winced at seeing that his little show had definitely made the shield of flames disappear from around the Dragon.

_I'll have to cope with it… _thought he in a sigh.

But he suddenly realised a combative aura had emerged in his perimeter and swiftly turned around, barely in time to counter the sabre of blue ice falling his way.

"Impressive, I am unfortunately obliged to confess…" admitted the panther-warrior in a screech, his white fur having turned black, burnt by Ace's last attack.

And he reinforced the pressure in his sabre, digging it more deeply into Ace's right palm – who had seized the sword bare-handedly to avoid having his neck cut by the lateral attack of his opponent.

"Urgh!" yielded Ace under the pain, the frostbite in his hand irradiating more and more strongly in the rest of his body.

He tried to make the weapon melt, but as against his 'Hiken', the sabre didn't seem to fear his flames.

The twist of the panther-warrior's sadistic smile grew bigger at seeing the moan on his opponent's face, and he inflicted once again more pressure on his hit.

Ace clenched his teeth and lowered his eyes under the shadows of his hat. He then slowly raised his left hand towards the chest of the panther-hybrid, while firmly grabbing the sabre into his right palm to prevent him from pulling back.

"Kagero!" called Ace while sending a powerful stream of fire into his opponent.

The panther-warrior flew several metres backward under the devastating pressure of flames, leaving his sabre in Ace's hand in the process.

Ace threw the sword of blue ice in his back, out of reach from his opponent, and resumed his battling position. He was doing his best to forget the pain and the effects of the frostbites scarring his body – and more especially the one in his right hand. His breathing was jerky, and he already had to keep all his focus just to be able to stand straight.

Since his fight against BlackBeard and his stay at Impel Down, there had been no occasion during which his Logia regeneration powers had been useless; and even if he was naturally tough, his animal opponent had a better resistance and Ace knew that he will end up at a disadvantage if the fight was drawing longer.

_Okay… Now that he doesn't have a weapon anymore, I should be able to endure his attacks better… And to find an opening, if I manage to follow his moves, that is… _inwardly smiled Ace, between two panting breaths.

But it was too soon to say – think – it: the panther-warrior had gotten back on his feet and had unsheathed from his back two Wakizashis of blue ice, glaring at Ace with eyes corrupted with rage.

_Tell me it's a joke! He still has weapons left… and two of them on top of that… I think I have some definitely rotten luck… _tilted Ace while staring at the two daggers which seemed to be of the same ice fabric as the previous blue sabre – and thus could also counter his Logia ability.

And while Ace was still wondering how to get rid of these two new problems, the panther-warrior dashed furiously at him – even more quickly than previously.

In a tempest of hits that resembled a deathly dance, he hammered Ace with dagger strikes. The latter had barely enough time left to avoid lethal hits, and he quickly ended up covered with frostbite scars.

"Hiken!" roared Ace while sending a powerful column of fire towards his opponent.

But the panther-warrior easily dodged the attack with an arrogant smile on his face. He then quickly changed his direction to avoid another fire stream from Ace and attacked him by using the opening the Second Commander of WhiteBeard had revealed when attacking.

The new frostbiting cut irradiated in Ace's entire body.

_Grr… It's like fighting against water current… _panted Ace while staring at his opponent who was playing with him thanks to his fantastic speed and agility, _The more I'm trying to dodge and counter, the more I fall into his rhythm and leave openings, tsk…_

"So, Human…" mocked the ice panther with a victorious grin on his face, "Do you start regretting not to have let yourself be torn to shreds by my dragon?"

"I don't remember Dragons being anyone's property…" retorted Ace without avoiding his eyes from his opponent, "It's pretty pathetic from you to imagine that you are its master just because your Witch has built up some little magic stuff to force him to obey you! Dragons are creatures meant to be dignified and free!"

That comment upset the panther-warrior to no point, but he forced himself to calm down and didn't draw closer to Ace's perimeter.

_Looks like my provocation didn't work… _sighed Ace, a bit disappointed.

"Humph, once I would have gotten rid of you, I will just have to control it once more to deprive it from its… dignity!" screeched the panther-warrior while slowly turning around Ace, still in guard position, "So just let yourself killed quietly!"

"Sorry, no can do!" answered Ace with a very provocative smile.

"Then it will just have to be less quietly…" roared his opponent while dashing towards Ace, his two ice daggers ready to accomplish another dance.

"Enjomo!" countered Ace, the wall of flames preventing his opponent to come closer.

The ice panther cautiously stopped in front of the shield and smirked evilly.

"You talk way too much for someone settling only for defence!" mocked the panther-warrior while carefully patrolling around the fire wall, watching out for the moment at which Ace will disperse his protection.

_Tsk… It annoys me but he's right… Still, I need some time to think about a strategy: I can't just fire flames at him without a care if he just easily dodges them… I would have to manage and immobilize him, be it for a brief moment… _thought Ace while clenching his fists, his eyes following his opponent's moves across the screen of flames.

But the sound of wind suddenly chimed into the cavern.

Both dumbfounded, Ace and his opponent raised their eyes towards the source of the icy gust that had invaded the grotto: the Ice Dragon had casted a huge snow tempest.

The white twister rose above Ace's fire wall and flew towards the panther-warrior, fatally attracting him in the eye of the storm under the pulling forces of the snowy winds.

_Wh…? t_hought Ace, stunned to see his opponent paling at the sight of the freezing tempest coming his way.

Despite his tentative for trying and run away from it, the panther-hybrid got pulled into the trajectory of the twister, which froze his feet to the ground in a thick shackle of white ice.

"Wow! Nice attack, Dragon-san!" whistled Ace in admiration with a conniving look for the Ice Dragon in his back.

The panther-warrior had started to shake his members desperately, but in vain: he was solidly riveted to the ground, unable to move.

"I hope you won't mind," pursued Ace with a malicious grin for the Dragon, "But I will need to make this snow melt…"

The Ice Dragon gazed at Ace, his garnet eyes shining with an approving glow, before calmly crouching on the floor, as if to signify him to do as he wished.

"You have my thanks…" smiled Ace with a malicious expression before counter-attacking: "Dai Enkai!"

He bend over, putting his hand on the ground and amassing flames in a gigantic fire whirl around him.

"Entei!" called Ace while lifting on his left hand the immense sphere of white hot fire resembling a sun.

"Wait, Human! We could… we could reach an arrangement…" mumbled the panther-warrior, completely panicking at seeing Ace's merciless look pinned on him, the titanic fire ball awaiting to meet its target, "What would you say about eternally reigning on this Kingdom? I am certain our Queen would see no objection in taking someone as powerful as you for companion… You could become King!"

"Rejected!" coolly answered Ace with a contemptuous smile, "There's already someone waiting for me… and together, we promised to make the sun shine again on this island!"

And Ace launched his 'sun' of flames towards his opponent, grilling the snow shackles at the same time as his target, the ground of the cavern denting in a myriad of rock and ice particles under the shock.

"Be honoured, you've been the first one to feel the warmth of this new sun!" smiled Ace while straightening his hat back on his head and turning back from his opponent – who couldn't hear him anymore.

**

* * *

ICE PALACE, MAIN HALL**

Fuu suddenly stopped running and turned back to glance behind her with a troubled expression.

"Have you heard a rumble, just now…? And also felt like a soft wave of warmth…" asked Fuu in low voice, as if speaking to herself.

"Hum…" mumbled Nami and Chopper while putting one of their hands on Fuu's forehead and the other on their own head to compare their temperatures.

"Hey, I don't have any fever!" retorted Fuu, deeply vexed.

"Fuu-chan, have you really caught a cold?" wondered Sanji, a bit more serious than his usual love-love enquiries.

"Hum…" repeated Nami and Chopper, their hands still on Fuu's forehead.

"Oh, forget about it…" sulked Fuu while walking away from her nakamas's hands.

_I must be oversensitive…_

**

* * *

ICE PALACE, BASEMENT CAVERN**

"Done! You're free, now!" declared Ace in a smile.

And he burnt between his hands the silver bridle and reins that had kept the Dragon prisoner under the Witch's control for only-God-knows how long.

"You can leave and wander anywhere you want, but I still advice you not to leave this island." pursued Ace with a friendly smile, "On the rest of Grand Line, no one knows how precious the life of a Dragon is: so if you're not in luck, you will end up on someone like my little brother who will want to use you as food supply, heehee…"

The Ice Dragon was still sounding Ace out, intensively gazing at him with his garnet eyes.

Ace looked up at him in answer and heaved a little sigh.

"Fuu told us you are very precious and very wise… And well, you also did me quite a favour for getting rid of the other bastard… Thank you very much!" bowed very politely Ace as a thanks for the creature, "But it's a shame you do not speak, I would have asked you the way out…"

Ace was now surveying the huge ice cavern, scanning it from left to right. And he massaged his neck in a perplexed expression, honestly not having a clue about which direction to take to reunite with the others.

_Tsk, now that I know that this powerful presence was the Dragon and not the Queen… _thought he with a glance for the influential creature, _I can't help but worrying for Fuu and the others… This Baka-Otouto has better be doing his job and protecting her!_

But his train of thoughts stopped upon feeling a faint push on his back.

"Hum…" reacted Ace when turning back and seeing that the Ice Dragon had pressed his muzzle on his shoulder, "Do you need something else?"

By way of answer, the Dragon slowly crouched on the floor and waved his head several times towards his back, as if telling Ace to climb up.

"You want me to ride on your back?" asked Ace with a surprised tone, quite doubtful when remembering the disgusting warrior who had been mounting the Dragon a mere hour before, "Are you sure?"

But the Dragon satisfied itself with staring at Ace with his garnet eyes: some very determined garnet eyes.

"If you insist…" answered Ace while crooking a smile and digging his hat on his head.

And he softly jumped on the Dragon's back, sitting tight between the creature's neck and its huge silver-scaled wings.

_I will end up believing I have some affinity with lizards… _muttered Ace for himself while remembering his mount in Alabasta's desert with an amused smile.

The Dragon then huddled up and swiftly propelled itself in the air through wide flutters of wings.

It dashed towards the ceiling of translucent blue ice, destroying the obstacle with an ice blast.

Then, in a crackle of frosty broken glass, the Dragon and Ace shot off in the nightly sky, flying over the Ice Palace towers.


	9. Ch 7: The Puppets Swordsmen

**THE DAY THE BENDED STORY OF ONE PIECE GOT MINGLED WITH THE SNOWS OF TIME**

…

Soul of the Blade, Swordsman VS. Puppets

…

**ICE PALACE, ROYAL APARTMENTS CORRIDOR**

Zoro was still nonchalantly walking along the passage bordering the royal suites. Upon arriving at a crossing, he trusted his instinct to lead him to his nakamas.

_Hum, right… _thought Zoro while taking the corridor on his right.

But Zoro's instinct – at least his orientation related one – wasn't up to the trust he had put in it, because it had been at this very same crossing that Nami, Sanji, Chopper and Fuu had turned several minutes before, but on the left.

And exactly as had estimated the two girls at the time, the right passage was leading straight to the entrance door of the Royal Courtroom.

"What's with that things?" mumbled Zoro while raising an eyebrow, staring at the two colossal statues of grey-bluish ice framing the high door, their huge swords in guard position straight in their armoured hands.

And as if to answer his question, the two guards started moving in a thumbing sound of rocky ice and blocked the way to the door by crossing their heavy swords in front of Zoro.

Zoro side-stepped, but the huge guards moved adequately and still denied him the access to the Royal Courtroom.

_Tsk, they're not going to get on my nerves for long, these ones… _thought Zoro while unsheathing one of his katana to attack the obstacle.

But the huge swords of bluish ice blocking his way remained unharmed, which made Zoro raise an eyebrow with an annoyed expression.

He thus drew his two other katanas and charged directly at one of the two colossal guards.

TILT. But Zoro's attention was called by something coming on his right, and he stopped his attack mid-way to counter a hit from the second guard.

He got blew up metres away from his targets but re-established his position in a couple of swift jumps, before dashing immediately again towards his first target.

"Tora Gari! » called Zoro while positioning his two hands above the katana in his mouth and attack his opponent with an ascending slash.

The gigantic armour of ice took the hit without flinching a bit. On the other side, the second Guard countered automatically and attacked Zoro from the flank, knocking him by the air movement dusted away with his huge ice sword.

_Grr… I didn't feel it coming! _groaned Zoro while clenching his teeth.

He dodged the biggest part of the attack with two of his katanas and rebounded to charge the opponent who had already got twice in his way.

_If you insist, I'm getting rid of you first! _thought Zoro while targeting the second Guard.

"Ushi Bari!" called Zoro, two of his two katanas positioned like the horns of a bull, hoping to make the heavy colossal statue of ice loose his balance under the strength of the hit.

But the colossus endured it as if it was nothing, while the first Guard synchronically smashed Zoro with his huge fist. The paving dented under the fists of the swordsman under the shockwave of the hit countered by his katanas.

_Urgh… _cringed Zoro under the blow.

TILT. Something caught his attention again, but he turned his head too late.

The fist of the second Guard attacked him from the side. He felt the wind being knocked off him. In a twister of dust and ice, Zoro crashed into the opposite wall.

_Tsk… If you take it that way! _thought Zoro while swiftly getting back on his feet.

He wiped away some blood from his lips and untied his bandanna from his arm to put it in place on his head.

_I don't have time to play with you!_

"Hyaku-Hachi Pound Ho!" called Zoro while raising his katanas at the level of his shoulders, initiating his circular technique.

Spirals of compressed air formed themselves and briskly flew towards the two huge animated statues of ice, drowning the corridor into a messy could of icy dust under the strength of the blow.

Zoro had hoped that this very powerful attack would damage the two lifeless armours blocking his way. But instead, surprise caught him when seeing two huge swords of blue ice dashing his way amidst the fog.

CRASH. Zoro got smashed against the wall of the corridor one more time, leaving a deep circular dent into the frosty rock.

_Grr… What the…? But just how powerful is this damned Witch to be able to master this kind of monsters…?_

**

* * *

ICE PALACE, ROYAL LIBRARY**

"Hum… So that's what it was!" mumbled Robin while putting back on the icy wooden shelf the thick and old book she had just finished consulting.

_If what I have been observing up until now is correct, the artefact giving the Queen her extraordinary ice power and what Fuu and her brother are looking for are one and only thing… _thought she with a faint smile.

And Robin calmly left the library to go and search for the rest of her nakamas, leaving behind a pile of ice armours disembodied by a couple of smart clutches.

**

* * *

ICE PALACE, ENTRANCE DOORS OF THE ROYAL COURTROOM**

The swords fight between Zoro and the two huge ice Guards had already destroyed the main part of the corridor's paving and walls, but had left little imprint on the colossus. On the opposite side, Zoro was panting more and more.

The swordsman had been surprised to face opponents emitting no ki, and he had struggled to adapt his fighting style in consequence, abandoning his instinct and sixth sense to depend only on the five others. But on top of this already bothersome absence of fighting spirit inside the ice armours, they also had no need for communication before acting in synchronicity.

Zoro had seen them coordinating their defence and attack with utmost precision without a single gesture of any other kind of sign, and he perfectly knew it was a huge disadvantage for him in this battle.

"Hyo Kin Dama!" called he in a jump, twirling in mid-air and daunting to try and understand the rhythm of dodging of his opponents.

His attack reached one of the Guards, but the other was already charging the swordsman. The huge sword of blue ice slashed in Zoro's direction, the edge of the blade grazing the first statue by a few centimetres but dodging it very efficiently.

Zoro's eyes widened at realizing that his opponents have managed to counter him without even seeming bothered by avoiding one another attacks, and he clenched his teeth when seeing the counter-attack coming his way.

The first colossus had sent his huge bluish and frosty fist towards him a mere second after Zoro had dodged the sword's hit of the other Guard, already forecasting their enemy's range of action.

_Tsk… They complement each other… _thought Zoro in a bitter expression while landing abruptly on the corridor's floor and dodging in a swift jump the next punch coming his way.

"Tatsu Maki!" called Zoro while turning on himself to create a whirlwind resembling the rise of a dragon.

Zoro had bet on one of his most powerful techniques to make the difference in the momentum of the battle, and the effect was worth it: the ice amour of the huge statue hit by the attack had sizzled into several deep crackles, and the shock had prevented it to counter.

"Huf huf…" was heavily panting Zoro, the after-effect of the hits received from his opponents and the one from all the special techniques he had been obliged to use starting to pile up against his stamina.

But it was too early for him to let his garde down: the second colossus was charging him with his huge sword of blue ice.

"To Ro Nagashi!" called Zoro while countering the attack with two of his katanas while the third one was targeting what was – supposedly – the abdomen of his opponent.

Another special technique, even though he knew he won't be able to keep on relying on them for ever, but it was his only way to shake his enemies a bit.

Zoro landed less swiftly than usual on the ice floor and shot a glance at the two ice statues still implacably facing him and blocking his way.

_Tsk… No way for knowing if they're hurt, or even frightened… or tired! No way of reading their moves since they don't have fighting spirit, and no way of dealing with them individually! Even if they've got swords, their just empty armours automatically reacting to enemies… _ thought Zoro while narrowing his eyes at his lifeless opponents, _Humph! Swordsmen without souls are not worthy adversaries!_

Determined to get rid of the two ice armours as soon as possible, Zoro resumed his fighting position.

"Karasuma Gari!" called he while jumping very high, reaching the level of the first colossus' head.

And he began a succession of multiple aerial slashes.

But the Guard countered with his heavy blue sword, before sending Zoro flying towards the other statue with a heavy slap, knocking the wind out of the swordsman.

_To Ro Nagashi! _used again Zoro to re-establish his position on to the huge sabre of the other colossus, twirling around it to hammer a final hit at the joint just before the pieces of the armour surrounding the neck.

The ice Guard staggered a bit but without seeming tremendously shaken, and Zoro landed on the ground, out of reach and out of breath, to stare at his still standing – and in good-shape – opponents.

"Santoryu Ougi: Sanzen Sekai!" called Zoro, attacking with all his power, hoping that this technique he had only used for big occasions – like his fight against Mihawk – would have more impact than all the others.

CRRR. The whirls of his katanas cracked the ice armour of his target with large and deep sizzles, but without any hope of witnessing its real effect: the puppets of the Queen were showing no sign of exhaustion or weakness.

_Humph… _sulked Zoro while clenching his teeth tighter at the visible lack of results.

But he didn't have time enough to dwell on it: the two Guards were dashing in his direction for a synchronised attack at a surprisingly high speed for opponents that heavy. Zoro raised two of his katanas to counter the charge, and the two huge swords of bluish ice fell on him in a thunder of frosty dust and rock particles.

"Daibutsu Giri!" called Zoro while suddenly appearing out of the smoke, new injuries spreading on his body.

Adding this other technique to the list of the one she had tried against his awfully resistant enemies, he attacked his target with a succession of powerful horizontal slashes.

The ice Guard tumbled under the shock and even made a step backward to keep his balance. Making the best out of this brief momentum, Zoro charged the huge statue while preparing another special technique.

"Yasha Garasu!" called he while making his katanas spin.

The twirl of Zoro's swords slashed the armour of the colossus with crackles resembling the footprints of a crow, shaking it more and more.

But before Zoro could reinforce his advantage, the other Guard was already on him, dashing towards the place where the swordsman had landed on the devastated ground.

TILT. Zoro barely saw the hit coming his way, when the other huge sword of ice projected him once more against the wall of the corridor, denting the rocky ice even more deeply than before.

_Kof kof… Tsk, their teamwork has really no flaw… _thought Zoro while coughing blood, _Grr, I don't have a choice: I need to use THIS technique against these monsters of ice, whatever it'll cost me to…_

**

* * *

ICE PALACE, ROYAL COURTROOM, LATERAL CORRIDOR**

"Quiet…" whispered Nami who had progressed at the head of their group right behind one of the ice columns surrounding the arch passage around the Royal Courtroom.

In the centre of the room, sitting on a throne of translucent clue ice, Queen Jadis was listening to the report an ice crow – one of her minions – was making her respecting to the progress of the intruders inside her Palace.

"The Queen… it's bad…" grumbled Fuu in a whisper, perfectly understanding how dangerous their present situation was.

"The bird just told her that one of the invaders had destroyed the entire battalion of her best soldiers, the Red Guards, just after having emptied the kitchen's supplies." translated Chopper, his attention focused on the crow before turning back to explain its contents to his nakamas.

Sanji, Fuu and Nami displayed a common discomfited and weary expression, before heaving a deep yet amused smile.

"At least, we know our captain is alright…" tried to cheer up Sanji on an humoristic tone.

"Hum…" nodded Nami, a bit relieved for the fate of the one she loved, before focusing her attention back on the Queen, "So, now that we've found the Witch, we should… Huh, hey?"

"What?" asked Fuu in a whisper while coming nearer, alerted by the surprised tone of her friend.

"The crow is not there anymore…" reported Nami, perplexed upon contemplating Jadis now alone on her throne.

"WHAT?" screeched Fuu while repressing a scream of panic.

_Don't tell me… _thought Fuu while desperately looking for the aforementioned bird.

And following her bad feeling, Fuu's eyes wandered towards the ceiling of the arches. Right above them, the ice crow was staring at the four intruders with his black eyes.

"Oh no…" let escape Fuu in a breath.

CAW. The crow then screeched a sinister cawing, and Fuu precipitately turned back to glance towards the Queen, a desperate expression on her face.

"Everybody down!" shouted Fuu while throwing herself on Nami, Chopper and Sanji.

The gust of icy wind merely grazed them, sending shivers down Fuu's spin. She then quickly raised her head, glancing back to see what Queen Jadis was going to do.

"Tsk…" clenched her teeth Fuu upon seeing the Witch slowly coming their way, her sceptre pointed in their direction, "RUN!"

And she grabbed Chopper by his collar while Sanji was helping Nami back on her feet, and pushed everyone towards the big wooden door they had taken to enter the courtroom through its lateral entrance.

But another whirlwind of ice slammed the door, blocking their exit, and sent them flying towards the walls.

"Kyaaa!" screamed Fuu and Nami under the shock.

"Poitrine!" called Sanji while dashing towards the Queen, his kick flying in her direction.

_Sanji attacked a WOMAN? _thought in unison Nami and Fuu, their eyes bulging out of their sockets in disbelief.

But Sanji had targeted the Queen's sceptre, hoping to deprive her of her weapon… fruitlessly, however. Worst: as an answer to the attack, Sanji's leg – the one who had hit the sceptre – started to get covered with frost at an unbelievable speed. The cook winced and swiftly took back his feet and shook the ice out of his shoes.

_Tsk… A bit longer and my leg would have been frozen… _mumbled Sanji for himself, his flesh painfully hurting under the cold attack.

The Queen smiled faintly at Sanji, and attacked.

Numerous sceptre hits, countered with as many kicks from the blond pirate: it resembled a synchronised and terrific ballet, from which were escaping frosty wind puffs and snowflakes.

"Nami…" finally spoke Fuu, her face getting paler and paler, "We need to go and help Sanji!"

"Hey? Why?" asked Chopper, completely dumbfounded by the comment, "Sanji is stronger than Nami and you, Fuu. So if he's fighting, he should win, right?"

"That's not a problem of strength…" answered Nami, also very pale, "Sanji is not really fighting! He's just been countering the Queen's attacks but he's not attacking at all. From the beginning, he's defending us without wanting to fight… so there's no way he could win…"

"What?" exclaimed Chopper, completely panicking.

Nami and Fuu were still clenching their teeth at seeing Sanji's legs getting covered by icy frostbites, while the Queen didn't even seem to get tired by the fight, a faint sadistic smile floating on her lips. And Chopper was looking at the two girls, whose fists were trembling of a controlled rage while their heads were trying to decide on their best alternative – fighting, escaping, fighting to give them time to escape…

"If Sanji can't win, I'm going to help him!" finally decided Chopper while rummaging his pockets to take out a Rumble Ball.

But Nami's hand suddenly interrupted him, and Chopper raised his eyes in her direction.

"No, I'm going! We need you to carry and heal this stupid gentleman, afterwards!" said she while assembling her ClimaTact and standing up.

And Fuu and Chopper saw her dashing towards Sanji, until:

"NAMI-SAN!" shouted Sanji with a brief yet imperious glance back for the mikan-haired navigator, "Go back with the others right now!"

Nami flinched and stopped, shocked by the tone in Sanji's voice. Their blond nakama was still countering Queen Jadis' attacks, the Witch perpetually trying to send her icy winds towards the spectators.

"I can see that you have found yourself a valiant knight, Daughters of Eve…" commented the Queen with an amused smile for the blond man blocking all of her tentative to get rid of the bystanders.

Fuu caught sight of a peculiarly dark glare the Queen had sent her way and felt an extremely bitter taste spreading in her mouth when Jadis went on:

"Still, you are an annoyance so I will make you disappear!" assented the Witch with a frosty tone, "Your knight will not stay in my way for long…"

And her comment was punctuated by an icy blast that made Sanji cringe of pain at the sight of the frost growing thicker and thicker on his legs. But he still prevented Nami from coming near him by a small gesture of his arm.

_Sanji, baka! _thought Fuu upon meeting Nami's eyes which were as worried as her own, _He can't fight against a woman, it's against his gentleman code of honour, we perfectly know it! What does he think he's doing, countering all the attacks the Queen sends our way? If he expects us to run away while he's distracting her, he should know we'll never do that!_

Nami had stepped in the fight again, only to get her thunder bolt tempo easily countered by a gust of frosty wind, and she had been sent flying on the floor by a twist of sceptre.

Sanji's eyes had blackened and he had put himself right between Nami and the Queen, ready to counter any other attack the Queen would have sent this way.

Jadis' sadistic smile had grew even more amused and she had resumed her teasing fight with the pirate, slowly making the ice layer on Sanji grow colder and harder at each of his counters. And from times to others, she would send an even more sadistic glare towards Fuu, as if measuring up the pleasure she would have to torture the same way the girl who had dared to openly challenge her.

_Because of me… _thought Fuu while repressing a guilty nausea to reach her lips, _Because I broke her plan for controlling us during dinner… because I blew up her kekkai in the apartments… because I attacked her with a light blast when on the griffin… She wants to take revenge on me, just me! I should be the one fighting… the one suffering frostbites… the one protecting everyone else… Sanji, you baka! And Luffy, you even bigger baka!_

Fuu's eyes had disappeared behind the shadow of her hair, and Chopper soon raised his face towards the girl he was hearing muttering words in a breath.

"Fuu?" asked Chopper, a bit worried, before realizing that Fuu was starting to glow and that the thumbing words she was whispering were actually her 'spells': "HEY! What are you doing, Fuu?"

Chopper jumped on the girl and started to shake her by her shoulders to make her stop her incantation.

"Hey, Luffy told you not to use your power, and you promised!" scolded Chopper, his expression concerned and revolted at the same time, "It's a pirate promise!"

Fuu finally stopped muttering and her eyes fell on Chopper, even though her focus was lost on the fight happening right in front of them.

"I can't let Sanji become an ice statue for the sadistic pleasure of the Queen without doing anything, can I…" said she in a blank tone, her face emptied of all feeling except guilt and worry, her voice shaking under the revolt rampaging in her heart, "Even if Luffy yells on me afterwards, I can't just wait without doing anything…"

"You can't do that!" shouted Chopper with a very serious expression, "We promised to protect you! You have to trust your nakamas! And you promised too!"

Fuu bit her inferior lip to the blood, clenching her fist so hard her nails scratched her hands.

_I know I promised, and I don't want to betray their trust… But what do they think they're doing, promising to protect ME even if THEY are hurt! Come on, I'm just a guest in this story: I should be the one supporting the heroes, instead of being a burden on them! I had told myself not to interfere in the normal course of One Piece story anymore but so what? This damn story is already totally messed up by my fault, so how could I just stay a bystander when they're getting hurt in front of my eyes… I CAN prevent that, I CAN help them, I CAN save them… So even if I hate myself afterwards, even if Luffy take back his trust in me afterwards… I can… I can just send all of this to the dustbin and do what I believe I should do?_

A sudden gust of twirling wind interrupted Fuu's debate with herself:

"Cyclone Tempo!" had called Nami, the huge twister acting as a protective shield between Queen Jadis and the four pirates.

And Chopper and Fuu had momentarily forgotten their argument to rush towards Sanji and Nami, helping the cook to stand on his feet while Nami was panting to maintain her powerful whirlwind around them.

"Very impressive, Daughter of Eve…" calmly admitted the Queen.

BAM. BAM. BAM. In a small gesture of her sceptre, Jadis sent icy winds slam all the doors of the Royal Courtroom, covering the exits with thick layers of blue ice.

"Tsk…" screeched Nami at seeing that their escape was now blocked.

"Very impressive, but how long will you be able to hold it?" pursued the Witch with a faint smile on her lips.

"Nami-san…" softly called Sanji, limping out of Chopper and Fuu's arms to walk towards her.

Nami glanced at him with a surprised expression when she saw Sanji putting his hand on the ClimaTact to make her draw back.

"I take care of the Witch, so just hurry and find a way to escape this room!" declared Sanji on a determined yet resigned tone, "Hurry up!"

And Sanji pushed with one hand Nami towards Fuu and Chopper, before jumping out of the wind shield and dash towards the Queen.

"Diable Jambe!" called Sanji while twirling on himself to heat his half-frozen leg.

"Icy Statue!" calmly called the Queen while pointing her sceptre in his direction, her most amused sadistic grin on her lips.

CRASH. The clash of attacks and defence sent vibrations through the ceilings and the walls.

"SANJI!" screamed Nami, Fuu and Chopper at seeing Sanji violently blasted on the ice paving covering the ground, Queen Jadis slowly walking his way, her sceptre glowing with up-to-no-good magic.

**

* * *

ICE PALACE, ENTRANCE DOOR OF THE ROYAL COURTROOM**

Zoro had slowly got back on his feet, staring at the colossus who was still nearly untouched: he had decided to use THIS special technique in order to take advantage of the natural weakness of these huge ice puppets, never minding the consequences.

"Yaki Oni Giri!" called Zoro while dashing towards his target, his katanas simultaneously cutting the huge sword of blue ice of the Guard of three enflamed slashes.

The rests of the weapon collapsed on the floor in a thumbing sound of wet metal, leaving to Zoro the satisfaction of seeing the success of his attack and the pain of the fire devouring his hands after this technique.

And to the burning pain of the 'Yaki Oni Giri' was added the one of the fist of the second ice statue smashing him on the ground once more.

"Kof kof…" coughed Zoro while gasping to get back on his feet, spitting more blood on the dented floor of blue ice paving.

The second Guard then threw his sword towards the swordsman, countering for the first Guard now deprived of his weapon.

Zoro barely dodged, and the shards of rocks broken under the strength of the hit slashed his arms and torso.

"Tatsu Maki!" grumbled Zoro while reiterating the only technique who had managed to deeply affect the colossus and get through their heavy armours.

He charged the still-undamaged Guard, not listening to his own body screaming under the repetitive use of his most powerful techniques.

CRRR. The hit effectively touched its target, but for what consequences: the two Guards were now crackled and sizzled, Zoro was him out of strength and panting heavily.

He didn't even had energy left to avoid the hit coming from the ice statue still equipped with its blue sword. The slash blew him to the opposite wall and left numerous frostbiting cuts on his body.

"Huf huf huf…" was trying to catch his breath Zoro.

The heavy silence in the corridor was now only troubled by the sound of the chopped breathing of the swordsman, who had collapsed on his knees on the icy paving when trying to get back on his feet.

_I must… I need to… _was trying to think Zoro, searching in his mind a technique that would allow him to get rid of these two Guards to reunite with the rest of the group.

BAM. In the silence, Zoro suddenly clearly heard the noise of a fight chiming in the Royal Courtroom.

He raised his head, bewildered, and stared at the huge entrance door which was trembling under vibrations coming from the inside.

_Wh… _wondered Zoro before suddenly freezing at hearing a scream.

A scream coming from the other side of the door, the panicked scream of a girl whose voice he would recognize among thousands…

Zoro's face twisted!

THOOM. The atmosphere around him suddenly changed and got filled by murderous intents...

Zoro was now holding his katanas hard enough to make his fists bleed, and rage and frustration blending with all the hits he had received up until now made him resemble all of a sudden a God of War that impudent mortals would have had the misfortune of disturb.

As if swallowed by a black hole, gusts of wind started to move about him, sweeping the dust of icy rock which had been disseminated all around during the fight.

Zoro's eyes rose from under the shadow of his bandanna to glare at his opponents.

_Kiki Kyutoryu: ASHURA!_

"Ashura: Ichibugin!" thundered Zoro while dashing towards the two Guards of Ice, an illusion of a nine-sworded God appearing behind him.


	10. Ch 8: The White Witch

**THE DAY THE BENDED STORY OF ONE PIECE GOT MINGLED WITH THE SNOWS OF TIME**

…

The White Witch

…

**ICE PALACE, ROYAL COURTROOM**

"That will already make one Son of Adam and two Daughters of Eve out of my way…" announced Queen Jadis with a frosty smile, pointing her already-glowing-with-magic sceptre towards Sanji and the others.

BOM… The Queen suddenly stopped her action and everyone turned they eyes towards the huge double door, against which had echoed a loud thumb.

"Wh…" murmured Jadis while gazing at the entrance.

BOM! In a whirlwind of frozen rocky dust, the two parts of the door briskly collapsed against the floor of the Royal Courtroom, brought down by the weight of the two colossal ice armours that had been blasted against them with tremendous strength.

"Who…" thundered the Queen at the sight of her now-unusable Guards, disbelief and anger palpable in her voice.

Amidst the cloud of dusty frost, a shadow appeared and slowly grew more precise.

It was the silhouette of a man with his arms crossed in front of him, each of them holding a katana which blade was glowing under the eerie light emanating from the bluish ice. The man, whose head was covered by a bandanna, slowly stood up from his attack final position, panting a bit, and coolly sheathed back a third katana he was holding between his teeth before pointing one of his two remaining blades straight at the Queen in a threatening pose.

"Step back! I won't like it if you kill them…" warned the swordsman, his glare as dark as steel.

"Zoro!" exclaimed in unison Chopper, Nami and Fuu, relief lighting up in their eyes.

"Stop acting all high and mighty, Marimo…" mumbled Sanji, in very bad shape on the floor, but smiling faintly at seeing his eternal rival entering the room.

"Just move and enjoy the show, Dartboard-Eyebrow..." smiled back Zoro, "I'm taking care of that Witch!"

The Queen was now staring at the new entrant with circumspection: if he had managed to get rid of her two Guards of Ice, she could already estimate his strength to be quite high.

She thus reported all her attention on the green-haired pirate and let out of her sight Sanji and the others, letting them peacefully reach the side-lines while taking with them the looser from the previous confrontation.

Zoro slowly moved one foot back, shifting into an offensive position, and Jadis slowly raised her sceptre, resuming her fighting position.

They stared at each other during seconds that seemed like eternities, and finally:

"Nitouryu: Nigiri…" began Zoro while putting his two katanas in position, "… Otoro!"

And Zoro dashed towards the Queen.

His two katanas fell down on Jadis' sceptre, making the Queen slightly flinch under the shock.

And the dangerous dance of Zoro's blades and Jadis's sceptre began, bringing towards the bystanders the echoes of their clashes.

"Not good…" finally mumbled Sanji who had tumbled to raise his head while supporting himself on his elbows, helped by Fuu who was on her knees nearby their gentleman-cook.

Chopper – who had been rummaging in his backpack and running around the cook to take care of his wounds and bruises, while Nami was attentively guarding them, her ClimaTact ready to use – suddenly stopped what he was doing to look at him with a deep frown.

"If this attack doesn't even get though the Queen's garde, Marimo's going to cop it..." explained Sanji with a concerned tone.

Fuu and Chopper turned their head to look at the fight between their nakama and the Witch: indeed, whatever technique Zoro was using, the Queen was countering it with a mere twirl of her sceptre.

"Nana Ju Ni Hound Po!" called Zoro while sending two huge shockwaves in mid-air, the mass of compressed air coming from the twirls of his katanas flying towards the Queen.

"Icy Shield…" blocked the Ice Witch, her expression unblinking.

"Nigiri… Maguma!" called Zoro while swiftly jumping to thunder his two swords onto the Queen's sceptre.

But Jadis barely yielded under the pressure of the hit, her artefact countering the Nitouryu without any damage on her side.

The spectators on the side-lines gulped down in anxiety at this sight which was confirming Sanji's comment.

"And also… if Zoro is fighting with only two of his katanas, that means he's already gone beyond his limits…" added Nami while prudently crouching near everyone else, her weapon still ready, drops of concern appearing on her forehead but her eyes never leaving the fight out of her sight.

"It's true he looks really exhausted! His previous battle was really hard, I think… And also, I don't know why, but his wounds from Thriller Bark have never completely healed, inside…" cried Chopper with agitation at seeing a panting Zoro attacking the Queen once more.

_Thriller Bark? _tilted Fuu with concern, _Tsk, I wish I would have read until there! Maybe I could help them… if Zoro was hurt and never really healed, I'm sure there must be a reason…_

"Sai Kuru!" roared Zoro, dragging Fuu's out of her thoughts by his shout.

But the swordsman's efforts to get through the Queen's garde were fruitless, and he was once more countered by a mere twirl of sceptre.

"Icy Wind…" called the Queen in a sighing smirk, estimating that she had already wasted enough time testing the abilities of her opponent.

"Tsk…" clenched his teeth Zoro while swiftly putting his two katanas in a cross-shaped garde in front of him to counter the Queen's attack.

BAM. But the frosty shockwave sent him flying backwards and he crashed on the stone floor several metres away, before sliding on his back until reaching the side-lines, near Fuu.

"Zoro!" screamed she, mad with concern and rushing to help him back on his feet.

"Tsk!" grumbled Zoro while wiping away frozen blood from his mouth, "Rather tough, that damned Witch…"

Zoro was panting – panting really hard, even if he had put on a strong unflinching expression – and his nakamas weren't fooled by his little act. Nami had already tightened her grip on her ClimaTact, and Chopper had taken out one of his Rumble Balls out of his pocket. Even Sanji had tried to get back at least in a sitting position, but his frozen legs were aching so much he needed to bite his lips not to scream under the pain.

Zoro softly removed Fuu's hand from his shoulder and camped his foot on the icy paving to get back on his knees. But he tumbled on the side, making Fuu even more panicked when she helped him not to fall back on the floor.

Queen Jadis smirked at the sight and finally heaved a deep complacent sigh that contrasted a lot with her beautiful face.

"I had raised my expectations in you and thought you would have been an opponent worth my greatness, but it would seem that my two Ice Guards have already eaten the best part of you…" stated the Queen with a pitiful look for Zoro.

Zoro's eyes narrowed and he clenched his fists or rage at the comment. But Jadis ignored him and slightly turned her head to dart a glance at the hazelnut-haired girl supporting the swordsman.

"What about you, Daughter of Eve?" asked she in a very polite tone, as if offering her guests some cup of tea, "Have I to understand that you are not resolved in fighting?"

TILT. Fuu's eyes tightened at the comment.

"Is your impressive magical energy only there for decorum?" pursued the Queen with a very incisive look for the one she had considered her opponent from the start, measuring with satisfaction the impact of her comments on the young and mysterious girl, "Could you be a person who send other people dying for her without even lifting one finger to help them despite her own abilities?"

SNAP. The last sentence had definitely chimed in Fuu's heart as an icy needle piercing her from part to part.

Zoro felt her fingers dig in his shoulder while trembling and he tightened his grip on his katanas; Sanji clenched his teeth and glared at the Queen with one of his darker stares; and Chopper's face crumbled at seeing his hazelnut-haired nakama's face so livid.

But the one who silently rose to face the culprit, her hands tightened on her ClimaTact, was someone else.

"Fuu…" softly called Nami while standing up in front of the Queen despite her fear, "Don't yield to her provocation! Don't you dare let her have it her way!"

"Hum!" nodded Chopper while growing into his humanoid form to walk towards Jadis, "This Witch doesn't know a thing!"

"HEY! Both of you, stand back!" ranted Zoro while getting support on one of his katanas to get back on knees, "It's my fight, don't butt in!"

_Are you stupid, all of you? _thought Fuu with an expression impossible to distinguish, _This Witch totally knows what she's saying… And that's precisely because you're the type of people who are still protecting me despite that… that I won't care about what is going to happen to me as long as I can help you…_

"It's fine!" chimed in the voice of Fuu inside the quarrels between the three pirates.

"Oy!" ranted Zoro at seeing Fuu slowly standing up.

"It's fine, Zoro…" repeated Fuu with a dark glare for the Queen still looking at her with a smile of triumph, "I will…"

_Sorry Luffy… I'm going to… break this promise… sorry… _thought Fuu while slowly walking towards Queen Jadis.

"NO WAY!" shouted in unison Zoro, Nami, Sanji and Chopper, all of them grabbing at the same time a pleat of her dress to pull her backwards.

BAM. Fuu crashed head first on the ice paving.

_Ouch… Why? _thought Fuu while pitifully massaging her nose.

"We told you we'd take care of everything and protect you, so stay behind!" grumbled Zoro while tumbling back on his feet.

"What the…? You're hurt!" retorted Fuu – who had gotten back in a sitting position on the floor – with a disapproving look for Zoro's bruises.

_Why would I let myself be protected by them while I am the one who can protect them?_

"Shut up!" snapped Zoro while slowly positioning himself in garde between Fuu and the Queen, "I said I'll protect you!"

Silence fell for a second on the declaration, only to be terminated by the amused grin of Jadis.

"Brave…" admitted she while pointing her sceptre at Zoro, "… but foolish!"

Zoro clenched his teeth and camped his feet in the ground.

"Icy Wind." called the Witch for a second time.

Another draught of freezing wind twirled with violence around Jadis' sceptre and rushed towards the pirates.

Zoro's eyes narrowed but he didn't step back.

_Zoro… _panicked Fuu, Nami and their nakamas.

But the icy wind never reached the swordsman:

"Hiken!" had chimed in a masculine voice.

DOMM. A deflagration of snowy breeze blended with flames clashed against the Queen's attack, creating a huge white-hot sphere of colliding powers, and the two flows finally invalidated in a crackle of ice dust.

The pirates and the Queen raised their incredulous eyes towards the ceiling from where had come the intervention: one of ice stained glasses broken on the North side had let enter an immense silver flying creature!

And the Ice Dragon that Ace was mounting gracefully landed in the centre of the Royal Courtroom, whipping up snowflakes in a flutter of wings.

"Sorry, but I'm not planning on letting you the hero's role…" announced Ace with a teasing smile for Zoro when jumping from the Dragon's back to swiftly land near the other pirates.

He then shot a glance at the hazelnut-haired girl behind the swordsman and who had instinctively stood up at their arrival., his expression a mixture of relief and something else.

_Ace? And… the… Ice Dragon? _inwardly thought Fuu at meeting WhiteBeard's Second Commander's eyes.

And Fuu slowly moved her feet, feelling herself magnetically walk then run towards Ace and his mystical mount.

As if attracted by a mysterious force, Fuu forgot all about the battle that was playing around them, all about the White Witch who had been targeting them… She could only see a pair of eyes fixing her with an eerie glow burning in them… A pair of eyes she didn't know could have such an influence on her… Thus she run, her feet making her float on the frozen and dented stone paving of the Courtroom. She run and just dashed straight to hug it, to feel under her skin the heartbeat and energy of the one so dear to her…

CRASH. Ace's face crumbled at seeing Fuu pass him by and throw herself in the Ice Dragon's arms – and not his – her eyes completely hypnotized by the garnet pupils of the extraordinary creature who had landed with grace and nobility on the floor of the Royal Courtroom.

_What was I hoping for? _sighed he while massaging his neck, not really knowing what to do with the two arms he had prepared to answer Fuu's – anticipated – hug.

But Ace's deception lasted a mere moment. He quickly put his disappointment aside to stare at their enemy on the other side of the Courtroom with a cautious expression.

Indeed, Queen Jadis was now mad with anger, her pretty face distorted by fury and hatred at realizing that the one who had stopped her final blow had also freed the Ice Dragon. And with way less composure than before, she pointed her sceptre at him.

"Icy Wind!" shouted she while sending another frosty draught towards the intruder.

"Kagero!" countered Ace, sending a stream of flame to deaden the Queen's attack.

Ace quickly moved to face the Witch, flames lighting up on his whole body while he was carefully moving to switch the Queen's focus far away from the bystanders and above all from the hazelnut-haired girl behind him.

Meanwhile, Fuu had softly put her fingers on the Dragon's muzzle, in a gesture mixed with fear and respect, indifferent to the battle raging around her. She was gazing at the garnet eyes of the creature with amazement, eyes that were glowing with magic and wisdom.

"So you are fine…" whispered Fuu with relief while looking at the magical creature straight in its eyes, "I am so happy that you are fine…"

By way of answer, the Ice Dragon sounded out Fuu with his garnet pupils. He was gazing at the human girl his saviour had told him about, this human girl with such a peculiar magical energy but who respected Dragons so much and felt pride in sharing the same air as them, the same earth, the same magic…

"And Ace took good care of you…" pursued Fuu in a murmur, still mesmerized by the fantastic being in front of her, "Or you of Ace, I do not know… But if that is the case, I will be infinitely grateful to you!"

In answer, the Dragon slowly turned its head towards Ace and the Queen, who were staring at each other with a challenging stance. The garnet eyes seemed to tell Fuu that the battle wasn't finished yet…

"Hum…" softly nodded Fuu, "I know… Our battle is not finished and I wish I could do something… Even if I promised not to do anything but entrust everything to them… even if I weren't the one who helped you… even when seeing the price we paid for it, I can't help but being happy at seeing you free and fine…"

Fuu glanced at the Mugiwaras on the side-lines, and a faint grimace of sadness stretched her lips at seeing them panting, wounded and hurt – most deeply for two of them. The Dragon moaned softly and gazed at her with eyes seeming to tell her not to worry and blame herself that much, but in vain.

"So now, I need to try and do something…" muttered Fuu with a strong determination, "I can't just stay there and regret what I'm letting happening to them… I want to help my nakamas! I just hate this awful situation where I'm supposed to let them protect me!"

_The powerless princess role is definitely what I hate the most in any story! _thought Fuu at remembering with annoyance all the scenarios she had read in some mangas or even seen in some Hollywood movies and where the 'heroine' was letting the heroes sacrifice themselves in protecting her without even trying anything on her own, _Don't give me the 'let's protect the princess' crap! I'm not a heroine, not a princess, not even beautiful or important enough to pretend to be one… Besides, I should be the one supporting the heroes instead of being a burden on them, tsk…_

A soft gesture made Fuu leave her own world: the Dragon muzzle had gently pressed her cheek. Fuu slowly raised her eyes and shot a glance at the Dragon, before starting to sulk a bit at seeing reproach in the garnet pupils.

"I know…" sighed Fuu while finally yielding to the Dragon's stare, "Don't give me that look! I know I promised… but you should agree with me that sometimes, you have things to protect way more important than that…"

The Dragon's eyes seemed to glow with chuckle, as if the creature was deeply amused by the paradoxical mixture of thoughtful maturity and childish whims he could read in the hazelnut-haired girl's heart.

But a violent gust of enflamed icy snowflakes brought Fuu back to reality, and she jumped back with concern at seeing Ace and the Queen resuming their fight even more fiercely than before, flames and ice colliding in white-heated energy blasts.

Fuu's eyes followed Ace for long seconds, before she then forced herself to bring her attention back on the fantastic creature near her.

"I would have loved to keep on debating with you…" smiled Fuu with a regretful yet caring expression, "And I'm sure you can already read in my heart this is not the only thing I'm regretting, but I think you should fly away… Since the Queen is not focused on you right now, please take advantage of it to escape her…"

Surprise veiled the garnet pupils of the Ice Dragon for a brief second, before it was replaced by concern and care at seeing the human girl begging it to escape while she was inwardly so eager to spend more time with it, so flushed at having in front of her the creature she had long been admiring.

"Leave as long as it is possible…" advised Fuu while shooting some quick glances at the battle between Jadis and Ace, "And… please live on… free and wise… watching over this world!"

Fuu bit her lips to hold on the urge of hugging the Dragon in her arms and just timidly patted his muzzle. As way to answer, the Dragon gazed at her one more time, but way more warmly and caringly than before, and finally closed its eyes.

Fuu suddenly felt small particles of magical energy accumulating under her fingers. When she finally raised her hand at the level of her eyes to look at the object that had appeared out of the concentration of magic, she blinked in disbelief at the big silvery pearl glowing with a garnet lustrous.

A bit flabbergasted, Fuu raised her eyes toward the Ice Dragon, wondering if she should consider it a present, and the fantastic creature slightly nodded – even before Fuu could have formulated her question.

The second after, the Ice Dragon had already spread its wings and taken off in a whirlwind of frosty dust, rushing towards the ceiling of the Royal Courtroom, while Fuu was muttering a silent and dumbfounded 'Thank You' between her lips.

"Icy Wind!" called the Queen at realizing the Dragon's attempt, her sceptre pointing towards the creature.

"Enjomo!" countered Ace, his mirror of flames preventing the Witch's magic to reach the mythical creature.

The Second Commander of WhiteBeard's Fleet then shot a glance at the Dragon and waved at it with a crooked smile.

And under these adieus, the Dragon drew away in the starry sky of Fimbul.

"How… dared you… freed… my Ice Dragon!" thundered Jadis, glaring at Ace with her lovely eyes black with rage.

"It never was yours to begin with." calmly outlined Ace with one of his most confident and irritating smiles, "Dragons are like pirates, they're meant to live free!"

"You are going to pay this insolence! Icy Arrow!" called the Queen while sending a freezing laser in Ace's direction.

"Kagero!" countered Ace while swiftly jumping back to give way to his huge stream of flames.

But he suddenly noticed something on his left and felt his heart thumb with concern.

"Fuu! What are you doing?" called he towards the hazelnut-haired girl who was still absentmindedly gazing at the ceiling at the place where the Dragon had disappeared less than a minute before, "Hurry up with the others!"

_Hey? Oh, Ace… Ace? Wait, the Dragon…_

The silent conversation with the Dragon had somehow numbed her senses, and the garnet pearl in her hands was pulsing like a magical heartbeat, keeping the presence of the fantastic creature fresh in her mind.

But the frosty wind caused another 'Icy Arrow' also countered by Ace brought her back to reality. Fuu suddenly remembered where she was standing – on the middle of the battlefield – and how dangerous the situation was – Ace had covered up for her already twice – and her face flushed with shame at the realization.

_Oh no! I'm definitely an idiot… and a burden… _inwardly cursed she while precipitately leaving the battlefield and running towards her nakamas, _And hopeless too! Even though I took the resolution of not burdening them, I'm just getting in their way…_

Upon reaching the side-lines from where everyone was watching the clash between Queen Jadis' Ice and Ace's fire, she kneeled down near Chopper.

"Chopper, would you please put this Pearl in safety in your bag?" asked Fuu while holding out the gem to the little reindeer.

"What is it?" asked Chopper, quite perplexed.

"A gift from the Ice Dragon, and it's really precious… But I'll explain you later!" insisted Fuu while forcing the jewel in the little doctor's pawns, eyeing with concern the battle behind her.

"Higan!" called Ace, the fire bullets leaving his fingers flying towards the Queen.

"Icy Shield!" blocked Jadis while deflecting the attack before countering with one of her most powerful magic: "Icy Storm!"

Several hailstones beat down on Ace – even more quickly than the similar attack from the Ice Dragon – and Ace also countered the same way, melting them away in a pillar of flames.

But the Queen had mostly anticipated the counter: she had made use of the distracting hail storm to move closer to Ace and directly target him with her sceptre.

But Ace had learn the hard way that ice weapons were his most dangerous enemies – as the frostbites left by the panther-warrior were still painfully reminding him – and he dodged every attack of the Queen, cautiously avoiding any contact with the ice sceptre.

Queen Jadis winced at realizing she won't be able to get rid of him the same way as Sanji but didn't draw back, hoping to find an opening.

But a 'Hiken' from Ace ruined her plan and sent her far away from him under the strength of the fire-fist draught. Nonetheless, the Witch was still unharmed, perfectly safe behind her ice shield, and Ace's teeth clenched at this assessment.

Long seconds flew by in the Royal Courtroom, the two opponents looking at each other in silence.

"Quite impressive, I must confess…" finally announced the Queen in a smirk while pointing her sceptre at Ace, "Nearly a shame to think that I do need to kill you… Icy Wind!"

"Kyokaen!" countered Ace, before answering with a mocking smile: "Your ice won't resist long against my fire, your Highness… I hope you'll forgive me beforehand for turning you into ashes!"

"Arrogant Son of Adam!" answered Jadis with a forced smile.

And another showdown of close ranged hits and dodges started between the Queen and Ace.

Nami and Chopper – and in a somehow reduced measure Sanji and Zoro – were watching the fight with admiration, hope springing up as they started to believe it was maybe possible to defeat the Witch, after all.

But Fuu's smile had fainted nearly immediately, when images of Ace's hurt body had popped in her memory. Even though her mind had been preoccupied by the Ice Dragon at that time, she had perfectly seen the frostbitten scars on Ace's bare torso.

_The marks are so numerous… Even without knowing how hard his previous fight was, it's easy to guess he paid his victory quite an expensive price! _thought Fuu with drops of concern appearing on her temples,_ And easy to guess that he'll be at a disadvantage in this fight if the battle is going to drag on… I need to do something!_

Fuu glanced at her other nakamas on the side-lines, and slowly moved towards their two hurt fighters to see if she could do something for them, thus also bringing Chopper's and Nami's attention back on them.

"Hotarubi!" called Ace, hoping to take the Queen by surprise as he had done with the panther-warrior.

But Jadis didn't fall into the trap and didn't let the fireflies a chance to get near her.

"Icy Wind!" called she in protective whirlwind that dispersed the green flying flames.

_Tsk… _thought Ace at seeing the delicate situation he was into, their fragile balance of powers possibly crumbling at any moment, _I guess that's what you get when using two opposite powers! Everything and nothing at the same time: they're both the most resistant shield and the most deathly weapon against each other… And if the weapon gets past the shield…_

"Icy Storm." called Jadis, making another cloud of hailstones beat down on Ace.

WhiteBeard's Second Commander countered and turned the ice blocks into vapour through one of his 'Hibashira' pillar of fire, before dashing to attack the Queen in what he thought could be an opening.

Meanwhile, Chopper had started to take care of Sanji and Zoro again, helped out by Nami and Fuu, but the little doctor was growing more and more alerted at realising he couldn't do anything against the deep frostbites caused by the sceptre of the Queen.

Zoro and especially Sanji took the piece of news with a grimacing expression, before Nami punched everyone with an enthusiastic fist to teach them not to give up and stop being so pessimistic. Fuu laughed a bit, even if her heart was sulking, and glanced back at the fight happening behind her.

_Hum, Ace doesn't seem to find an opening in the Queen's garde… And he's started to pant a bit… _realised she with a very concerned expression at seeing the exchange of hits between the two opponents, _Zoro and Sanji are not is shape to help him and I'm still bound by this damned promise… Luffy, you baka!_

_And now that I think about it, where is he? I know the hero always appears when he'll have the most impact, but don't make it a life or death situation before popping up, grr… Ace is not in trouble yet, but if only he could get some help, we might find a way to pass through Jadis' garde… If only Luffy was here, they could fight together, like at Marine Ford, and they could…_

"Shinka: Shiranui!" called Ace while launching two spears made of flames towards the Queen.

But the Witch deflected them in a mere twirl of sceptre, completely unharmed by the attack, while one of the fire spears flew violently towards the spectators – more precisely towards Fuu's back, the hazelnut-haired girl having kneeled down near Zoro to take care of his wounds, still completely lost in her thoughts.

"CAREFUL!" shouted Zoro while grabbing Fuu's wrist from one hand and countering the 'Shiranui' spear with the katana in his other hand.

BAM. The weapon made of flames tumbled on the ice paving on their left, and Zoro also collapsed afterwards, panting heavily and cringing at the pain of his injuries who had reopen during the move.

"FUU!" shouted Ace, mad with worry at seeing blood dripping from the girl's arm at the place the spear had grazed her.

Ace clenched his fists until they turned white, mad with frustration, and only breath again when seeing Fuu back on her knees and scolding Zoro for having moved even though he was hurt. A small sigh of relief left WhiteBeard's Second Commander's lips, and he brought back his attention on his opponent.

TILT. Jadis was smirking with a very deranging expression.

"Hum… Might I take this reaction of yours as a proof that this Daughter of Eve is important to you?" evaluated the Queen with a shadowy smile.

Ace's eyes narrowed and he resumed his battling position without uttering a single syllable.

Jadis smiled even more widely at his reaction and slowly stretched out her sceptre in front of her. A circle of frost spread and glowed around her.

"Icy Ring." softly called the Queen, before releasing her cold ring like a ripple on water.

"Kyokaen!" countered Ace with a shared expression, not really knowing what the Witch's strategy could be by sending such a slow – relatively slow comparing to her 'Icy Arrow' – attack at him although he could easily block it by his wall of flames.

SHIN. Ace froze when he raised his eyes to glance at the Queen beyond his mirror of fire: Jadis was smiling, widely grinning, one of these twisted smirk that show the delight of seeing a prey falling into a trap.

And Ace briskly turned back at realising that the freezing wave had only been negated by his flames in front of him but not elsewhere: the rest of the ripple was pursuing its way towards the limits of the room, towards the spectators watching the fight from a distance, towards Zoro, Nami, Sanji, Chopper… and Fuu.

"GRR!" roared Ace at completely turning back and sending his flames to catch up with the 'Icy Ring' as fast as he could.

But at the very same moment, he felt a thumbing pain in the inferior part of his body, and screamed behind his teeth clenched. The Queen had succeeded in her diversion and made use of Ace's inattention to get close to him.

"Icy Statue." had softly called Jadis when her sceptre had hit Ace's legs, transforming them into translucent bluish ice as hard as marble.

"Urgh…" coughed Ace while collapsing on the floor, tumbling to get on his elbows to see if at least the price paid had been worth it.

In his vision blurry by pain, he looked after the silhouettes of the one(s) he had wanted to protect, sending his flames towards them even though he should have kept his focus on the Witch. But his mirror of flames hadn't reach Fuu and the others in time to counter the Queen's attack.

"How useless…" commented Jadis with a satisfied look for the bystanders' state, while making Ace roll on his back with a soft kick from her left feet.

Indeed, Zoro and Sanji had been severely touched by the freezing wave, as well as Nami and Chopper who had collapsed with pain, their members partially frozen and frostbitten. The only one who had escaped this fate had been Fuu, and only because Zoro had grabbed the hazelnut-haired girl to pull her behind him and shield her from the attack.

"Your efforts have been in vain! And if you had not concerned yourself with the likes of them, you would not be in your current predicament…" commented Queen Jadis with a frosty smile, "As I said previously to the other Son of Adam, brave… but foolish!"

From his lying position, Ace glanced at Fuu's expression – panicking and desperate, but safe – and somehow felt a bit comforted by the sight. But relief was short-lived, as pain came back at him, and he looked at his frozen legs with a grimace.

_Tsk… The same as the ice blades of this panther-warrior… I can't regenerate the wounds! And here, it's even worse than a mere scar… definitely not the same kind of ice power than Aokiji: it's like my legs have changed into stone! Even though I've got a Logia level power, to think that I can't do anything against this ice, tsk…_

_Well, at least I'm relieved that Fuu won't have to endure that: it burns as if my flesh was being torn off… But Fuu being Fuu, I guess she's not happy with being the only one saved either, heehee… _thought Ace in a sad yet amused smile.

"Oh, what a wonderful smile to immortalize!" smirked Jadis with a shadowy expression, pointing her glowing sceptre at Ace to freeze him completely and add him to her collection, "Icy Statue!"

_No… _thought Fuu – who had been fighting with Zoro and trying to take care of everyone else until she had caught a glimpse of the Queen's doing.

"NOOO!" screamed she, tears of rage welling up in her eyes while magical energy was instinctively building up in her fist under the shape of a golden glow.

But even before she could release her 'spell' into one of her shining wind blasts, a shout interrupted her:

"Gomu Gomu no… Bazooka!" called a masculine voice beyond the destroyed entrance door.

Two elastic fists then flew towards Queen Jadis at light speed, and the shock made her tumble backwards of a good thirty metres despite her ice shield.

"LUFFY!" called the spectators on the side-lines.

"Luffy…" muttered Ace in a smile at seeing his little brother rushing towards him.

"Ouch, Ace! You're all beat up!" commented Luffy with one of his usual stupid expression, when crouching near his brother.

"Oh, really?" sarcastically asked Ace while forcing a smile, "And who's at fault, according to you?"

"Hum…" paused Luffy while frowning deeply, an unusual reaction that was showing that the comment had had way more impact on him than the usual sarcasms he was generally dodging with a sulking face.

And without more warning, Luffy grabbed Ace by his waist and put him on his shoulder – exactly as he was usually doing with the bags of flour or potatoes when Sanji was using them to carry food supplies – to carry him out of the battlefield.

"Hey, Luffy!" thundered Ace, "What the heck do you think you're doing? Kakkowarui! Oy, put me down, Baka-Otouto!"

But Luffy flatly ignored his brother and only put him down when they reached the stone stairs on the side-lines, near the column-bordered cloister, softly placing him near Fuu who had hurried to catch Ace in her arms.

Luffy then looked at his nakamas, all of them hurt and suffering deep frostbites. His fists and teeth clenched in a grimace of sadness and frustration.

And his eyes hardened even more when he saw Nami, who was still forcing a smile on her face while refusing to give up, but whose frozen shoulder was hurting like hell. Luffy's face crumbled a faint second, and he lowered his eyes under the shadow of his hat, his whole body trembling under rage and regrets.

TILT. Something finally caught Luffy's attention and he slowly raised his head to glance at it: Fuu's hands which were supporting Ace were red, even redder than her eyes, red with blood from when she had clenched her fists so hard that her nails had dug into her palms.

Luffy's eyes and mouth widened, of disbelief at first, then of remorse when images of him making Fuu promise him not to use her power popped into his memory, followed by images of her taking it onto her and clenching her fists until they bleed because she couldn't do anything to help her nakamas.

BAM. Luffy's fist had dented the icy stone column nearby him, completely destroying it under the strength of the blow.

He then raised his head to look at everyone and showed them one of these apologetic and regretful expressions that no one had ever seen on Luffy's face, one of these serious-looking faces one could rarely see.

"My bad… I couldn't keep my part of the promise…" apologize Luffy in a tone blank with remorse.

_Luffy…? _thought all the others with concern at seeing their captain, lover, friend, brother taking it so hard on himself.

"Fuu…" finally called Luffy, his face still grey with pain, "Can… can I… in the end… can I still ask you to use your power?"

Fuu's eyes widened.

"Can I… can I be selfish and ask you to heal everyone with it?" asked Luffy while swallowing back his rage and remorse.

Fuu's expression softened and she mouthed her own lips to hold back her urge to yell out her answer.

"Of course…" whispered she in a sad smile, while holding back her tears.

_Of course, baka… I was already determined to do it even if you had not asked me! _thought she while her insides were twisting at the thought, _Determined to use it whatever the cost even if I had told myself to take it onto me and keep my promise…_

Fuu glanced anxiously at her nakamas, and then brought back her eyes on Luffy, who was still trembling in front of the same scene.

_But if I had decided to do it sooner, I wouldn't have made my nakamas go through so much pain and wounds… nor would I have seen such a guilty and regretful expression on Luffy's face… I feel so awful! Awful… Am I just a coward, in the end? Am I not able to protect what I care for if it means I would lose someone's trust in exchange?_

Fuu bit her inferior lips and glanced once more at Luffy. And in front of such a guilty expression, she swallowed back her own regrets.

"Luffy!" called she in a strong voice, trying to forget about everything else, "I'll do, trust me!"

Luffy paused a few seconds, blinked a few times, and finally smiled his nearly-usual stupid grin in answer. He then turned back to glance at the pile of frozen marble from under which Queen Jadis was slowly emerging, Luffy's 'Gomu Gomu no Bazooka' having had more impact on the architecture of the room than on her, but had still been troubling her to get rid of all the stone blocking her way.

"That Witch… I'm going to butt her ass!" roared Luffy, his eyes dark as steal, "She's going to pay: Gear… Second!"

And Luffy rushed towards his opponent, vapour emanating from his whole body as he had activated his ability.

"Gomu Gomu no… Jet Rifle!" called Luffy while targeting the Queen with this difficult-to-avoid technique.

"Icy Shield." called once again Jadis, her expression more cautious and annoyed than before by her new opponent.

Fuu followed for a few seconds the fight: Luffy was doing great, dodging the Queen's attacks and sending her flying until the bottom of the Royal Courtroom by multiple and repetitive hits on the Queen's ice shield.

_Seems like we will have ten minutes of grace, the span of Luffy's Gear Second… But I remember it's very bad for his body to keep on using it, so everyone have to be able to go and help him before his Gear Second reaches its limits…_

A bit relieved for Luffy, Fuu focused her attention back on her nakamas. Her heart sunk at seeing them so deeply hurt but patiently enduring the pain without complaining at all.

_They didn't even ask… _thought Fuu while biting her lip even harder, _They didn't even ask me to heal them even though they knew I could use my power to do it! I'm worthless! I should be the one helping them out and they are the one who helped me, saved me, protected me… and they didn't even ask me this in return…_

BAM. Everyone stared at Fuu in disbelief: the hazelnut-haired girl had punched the ice paving in front of her to vent her frustration in the hit.

She then heaved a deep sigh and joined her hands in prayer in front of her, closing her eyes to focus her attention into her 'spell'. She had decided to try a massive healing magic, coupling a defrosting aura to her usual healing 'spell', something she had never done before, mainly because she knew it was a very powerful magic to use.

_Who cares about my own energy, tsk… _thought she while concentrating on this exhausting 'spell'.

Under Fuu's silent chanting, particles of silver light started assembling right above her hands, creating little by little a sphere of pure magic glowing of silver. When the last word of her incantation was murmured, the pearl of light spread into a wave, softly slicing through the air.

Like a ripple on water, the silver aura slowly dispersed and touched the circle of pirates, healing them into a warm glow. Frostbites disappeared from Nami and Chopper's bodies, leaving the both of them at the same time relieved and dumbfounded.

But the 'spell' wasn't enough to totally heal the three fighters, only erasing their superficial wounds and bruises.

_Ugh… It wasn't enough to get rid of the stony-ice from the Queen's sceptre… _realised Fuu with a disappointed expression, _I know it's my first time trying a 'Healing Circle' but I had expected a better result somehow, especially considering how much energy it had pumped me…_

Fuu was already starting to pant, the effect from the pill Chopper had given her at the Onsen having for long faded away, exhaustion catching her back.

_Tsk… Then I'll just have to heal them one by one with my usual spell! I think I can still support something like that… I don't care if I'm fainting again: watching them getting hurt was way more painful than any anaemia crisis…_

Nami – who had finally stopped looking at her shoulder with disbelieving eyes – was now staring at Fuu with concern.

"Chopper!" called she while progressing towards the little doctor and her other nakamas, "We're going to help Fuu to heal the others!"

"Hey?" tilted Chopper – as well as Fuu, "But Nami, I already looked at it before, and I can't do anything against this strange ice: it's different from the time where Aokiji had frozen Robin…"

But Nami wasn't listening anymore, and she was couching on Sanji to try and look how much wounds were left on their cook.

"And by the way, Sanji-kun…" asked she with a sulking and lecturing tone, "Can you explain me why you protected us from the Queen? We all know you can't fight against a woman, so going all the way to fight while knowing you're going to lose…"

"Well… His chivalry code doesn't seem that stupid to me…" chimed in Ace with a faint smile: _After all, I'm in the same state as him for having wanted to protect someone too…_

"A bunch of idiots!" sighed Nami while punching Sanji on his head, even if the faint smile on her lips was contradicting her official anger.

"Yes, real baka(s)…" agreed Fuu in a murmur while coming closer to Ace: _If you had not tried and protect us, the Queen's diversion would have failed and you wouldn't be hurt that much, baka!_

"But this ice… What can we do, what can we do?" was panicking Chopper at examining Zoro's wounds once more, "A doctor, a doctor… Ah, it's me! But… but I can't do anything, gyaaa! And Fuu's spell failed, gyaaa!"

"Calm down, Chopper!" said Fuu in a half-amused smile at the panicked expression of their little reindeer, "I'm going to use my normal healing spell and I'm sure it should be fine! If I focus more my power, I can heal them from this ice!"

"Oh!" calmed down Chopper at seeing Fuu close her eyes and begin to whisper the incantation of her 'spell'.

Fuu's lips were now glittering with their customary silver glow, ready for her usual healing 'spell'. And she slowly reopened her eyes to bend over on Ace, focusing all her energy into her wish.

Her lips grew closer to Ace's cheeks, under the flabbergasted look of Nami and the others, who had never seen Fuu using her healing power before, a tacit agreement having been made between her and Chopper that she won't steal his job of doctor by using it when it wasn't a matter of life or dead.

But Ace seemed to think it would be a waste to let such a golden opportunity slip away, so he turned his head at the very last second, making Fuu miss her original target.

Fuu froze when her lips touched WhiteBeard's Second Commander's skin.

_Wh…? Ace? _inwardly ranted Fuu while blushing furiously and promising herself to make him pay this dirty trick later on.

_My thank you gift for having saved you… _grinned Ace with one of his usual crooked smile for the hazelnut-haired girl kissing him, making her blush even more.

Nami, Chopper, Sanji and Zoro were sitting on the floor behind Fuu and were quite surprised to see her using this kind of method for her spell, but they had not noticed the beat-red cheeks of their nakama, nor the reason why she was so embarrassed.

Actually, they couldn't see the small difference of a mere centimetres that had brought Fuu's healing kiss not on Ace's cheeks as forecasted, but on the corner of his lips.

And Fuu was trying really hard to stay in control of her own feelings to let her silver healing aura seep into Ace and close down his wounds. She let her lips on his skin for long seconds, letting her magical energy erase the frostbite scars from his body and defrost his legs, trying not to focus on the teasing smile her patient was dedicating her, nor on the obsidian eyes that were looking straight into hers with an eerie glow setting them ablaze.

And when Ace's recovery was lastly complete, she finally allowed her to do what she was burning to do for long seconds: BONG. Fuu's fist rang on Ace's skull, under the still perplexed look of Nami and Chopper.

"Wow…" exclaimed Chopper who had rushed towards Ace to examine him, "Fuu, you really healed all his wounds and this special frostbite?"

"Fuu, you… KISSED him?" exclaimed Nami while staring at her friend with an astounded expression.

"WHAT KIND OF POWER IS THAT?" exclaimed in unison Chopper and Nami, intensely staring at Fuu with a disbelieving look, but not for the same reason.

"Ah, hum… that's, hum…" began Fuu, definitely ill-at-ease by the question and starting to mumble her answer, "It's a healing 'spell' I use with the power of my Devil Fruit, hum… First, I focus the energy inside my own body and assemble enough of it for… well, depending on the number of people and the severity of the wounds… that's the silver light you've seen. And after, I need to transfer this energy to the person I want to heal, and I need to touch them long enough for the 'spell' to close down all of their wounds, and hum…"

"Hum… I see, I see…" nodded Chopper with a very professional-looking expression: _So she use her own energy to boost the natural recovering process of the body, but also to neutralize any physical alteration the patient had been exposed too, hum… That's really impressive…_

"And you need to KISS them for that?" asked Nami, still dumbfounded by the scene she had witnessed.

"Well, that is… At first, I did wanted to use my hands to transfer the energy, but… that… it wasn't possible the first time I ever used that 'spell' so… I guess… I guess my power instinctively kept that shape ever since…" muttered Fuu, more and more ill-at-ease by Nami's comment.

_Ever since Marine Ford, I only used it on the little Robin, so I never really thought it could be a problem to let my power keep that shape, but now that I think about it, it's a bit…_

"Oh, so your first time really was with me, hum?" teased Ace with a smile full of innuendo.

SHIN. Everyone froze at Ace's comment and gradually stared at him.

BONG. Fuu's fist had rung a second time on Ace's skull.

"Don't… don't say such easy-to-misunderstand things!" cried Fuu, even redder than she had believed she could become.

And she immediately turned back to deny the piece of information, but Zoro, Sanji and Nami were still crashed on the floor, knocked off by the declaration, while Chopper was looking at them with perplexity, the little reindeer not having understood the double-meaning of Ace's sentence.

_Oh no! Everyone… what should they be thinking about me, now? Ace, you baka! Baka! BAKA!_

"Gomu Gomu no… Jet Gatling!" shouted a voice behind them, making everyone come back to reality.

Under Luffy's high-speed hits, a huge draught blew in the Royal Courtroom, definitely awaking everyone to their present situation.

Fuu glanced at the battle that was happening behind her and which had already destroyed half of the Courtroom. She then glanced at the remaining wounds and frostbites of her nakamas and definitely swallowed back her embarrassment to walk towards Sanji and kneel down near him.

"Oh, Fuu-chwan, are you going to heal me too? Extreme happiness! That such a delightful kiss would bring me to life, it seems like heaven!" was having a rolling gait Sanji, his eyes in heart-shape.

Fuu blinked at the comment and heaved an amused sigh.

_The severity of our situation doesn't seem to be enough to prevent Sanji from shifting into love-love mode when a girl is approaching him, huh…? Or is it that he trusts Luffy so much that he's granting himself the permission to have some fun?_

And with a faint smile at the thought, Fuu closed her eyes and began muttering her incantation.

_Hey?_

Fuu stopped her 'spell' and suddenly reopened her eyes at feeling something warm on her lips.

Ace had stood up to come and crouched near her, and putting his index on Fuu's lips to stop her incantation while switching on flames in his other hand.

"You're not obliged to use one of your 'spells' to make this ice disappear… I can just melt it down!" proposed he with a very cunning smile that denoted a lot with his usual serious expression.

"Gyaaa! Are you kidding us?" shouted in unison Chopper, Nami and Sanji, their eyes bulging out of their sockets.

"If you put a flame on such frostbite, the wound is only going to get worse!" exclaimed Chopper, dead serious, while stepping between Ace and Sanji to prevent such a thing from happening.

"And then… Fuu will still need to heal him, and with a longer spell, even!" cautioned Nami with an explicit stare for Ace.

"Tsk!" sulked WhiteBeard's Second Commander while putting out the fire in his hand, under the relieved expression of Sanji.

Fuu tilted her head on the side, not really understanding about what the problem had been, and finally closed down her eyes again to focus back on her incantation, while Sanji was resuming his cuddling caterpillar dance at the healing kiss expectation.

"We're going to find an alternative solution, then!" smirked Ace while knocking out Sanji with a huge punch on his head.

And when Fuu finally reopened her eyes, ready to heal Sanji, the cook was lying on the floor, KO, stars twirling around his head. Quite perplexed, Fuu looked at Nami, but the navigator only shrugged her shoulders with an amused expression.

Fuu thus didn't seek farther and slowly bent over to kiss Sanji on his forehead, letting the silver aura seep until the toes of the gentleman. When the 'spell' was finished, Sanji was still KO but his wounds as well as the ice hindering him had disappeared.

"Wow, when we're used to it, I have to admit that it's really impressive!" commented Nami with an enthusiastic expression, before noticing the pale face of her friend, "Hey, Fuu, are you okay? Don't use your power too much!"

"No, it's fine! I'm feeling great!" comforted Fuu while controlling her breath.

_To be more honest, I'm beginning to get tired… Well, no, to be completely honest, it would be more objective to say that I'm exhausted, but it's out of the question to admit it, even less to show it… I don't want them to feel bad for me! I mean, they did all the work and even protected me… they ended up hurt just not to make me use my power… hurt so much… The least I can do is heal them, whatever it costs me!_

"Hum…" paused Chopper who was now examining the totally recovered body of Sanji, "I feel a bit useless, now…"

"Of course not, Chopper…" retorted Fuu with a comforting smile for the little doctor, "There're wounds only you can heal, you know! You'll see later on, and that's why you're the most important!"

"That doesn't make me happy at all, bastard!" danced Chopper, contradictorily happy by the compliment.

Fuu smiled back at the little reindeer and then slowly stood up – carefully controlling her breath and her balance to be sure not to reveal the thumbing exhaustion that was rising into her – and walked towards Zoro.

"If… if you're planning on healing me too, no need!" roared Zoro with his cheeks flushed, "That's nothing big, scratches…"

"Oh, I confirm: scratches severe enough to prevent you from fighting!" taunted Fuu while kneeling down near Zoro.

And having already expected the swordsman to retort something like that, she started to inwardly murmur the incantation for her 'spell'.

"I don't need you healing me!" insisted Zoro while trying to crawl farther from her, but stopping midway in his attempt when his wounds and frostbites painfully reminded him of his current state.

"Oh… Then how about proving us you indeed don't need it by standing up to show how fine you are…" sighed Fuu with a look of reproach and provocation for the swordsman.

_My 'spell' is ready… _thought Fuu while her lips had turned into a light silver, _Now, an opportunity…_

"No need, I said!" was still sulking Zoro, his face still red and averting his eyes from Fuu, as if that attitude was going to make her renounce.

_An opening… _smiled Fuu, who was starting to lose focus for maintaining her 'spell' so long.

And making use of this moment of inattention, Fuu swiftly rose and pinned her lips on Zoro's cheek.

SHIN. Zoro froze, and started blushing furiously. On his side, Ace had clenched his fists but was staying calm.

And Fuu focused her energy a bit more to let the silver healing aura seep into Zoro. Long seconds flew by, and Fuu's face started getting paler and paler, but she was still letting her magical energy wrap the swordsman and close down his wounds.

_Huh? Strange… It should be finished from long time ago, but it's as if all my energy was being sucked into him… I kind of accept that he's the type not to take a good care of his body, but his wounds shouldn't be really worse than Ace's or Sanji's…_

Drops of exhaustion were starting to appear on Fuu's temples, but she didn't break her spell, not concerned about the quantity of magic she was using, her, but by the fact that it meant Zoro's body was in need of this same amount of magic.

_Why? Just why? It feels like there are wounds in his body that are gulping up my healing 'spell' because they've never really closed down… What happened to Zoro recently? I mean, Chopper is a really good doctor, so what could have caused that?_

Fuu was feeling that her own energy was reaching her limits, and she decided to go and ask directly Zoro's body what he had endured, instead of waiting for her to be completely exhausted and unable to give him proper treatment.

_Sorry Zoro, it's really impolite, but I need to see in your memories where are these wounds coming from…_

And, her lips still pinned on Zoro's cheek to let the healing aura do her job, Fuu mentally pronounced another incantation to use her Devil Fruit power once more and peek into Zoro's mind – in the part of his memory linked to his wounds – what had happened.

Under this new inquisitive power, Fuu's eyes narrowed and frowned like under a nightmare, while images of Zoro training – harsh training – with Mihawk, then images of him fighting a Pacifista and Kizaru at Sabaody were flowing into her head as she was searching the memory of his wounds deeper and deeper in the past. And she finally reached the part from where was coming his biggest wound – the black-hole-looking one that was gulping up magic without closing down – and about which Chopper had talked about: Thriller Bark.

ZAAA. Suddenly, multiple slashes busted out on Fuu's body, deeply scratching her skin in answer to the 'spell' she was still using to try and close down the invisible yet deep wounds of her patient.

"Wh…?" panicked Zoro at seeing pearls of blood flying out from her wounds.

Completely disconcerted, Zoro briskly turned and grabbed Fuu by her shoulders to force her to break her 'spell'. He violently pushed her backwards, still appalled by what had happened, and Ace caught the hazelnut-haired girl to hold her onto him.

"Wh… WHY?" shouted Zoro, shared between exasperation and concern, at seeing Fuu white as a sheet and not even able to stand on her own anymore, on top of all the mysterious slashes that were scaring her body.

Chopper had already rushed towards Fuu, as well as Nami, who was looking at Ace in disbelief, as if to ask him if that reaction was 'usual' when she was using her power.

"Why was she hurt?" insisted Zoro while slowly progressing towards Fuu, now that his wounds and frostbites had been healed, _Why? That can't be this damned thing Luffy was talking about, right? This thing about abusing her power… Don't tell me she's in that state because of that? Because she used it to heal ME?_

"Hey, Fuu?" called Zoro, really angry and worried at the same time, "Hey!"

Fuu narrowed her eyes and finally opened them, as if waking up from a nightmare. And when her eyes met Zoro's, she started crying, crying silent and stupefied tears.

_Thriller Bark… All these deep wounds… still opened inside him… they're not his! At least they shouldn't have been his! I feel so aggravated, ugh… Zoro has accepted all of Luffy's pain when Kuma had offered him this choice, enduring everything because he trusts his captain, and I'm the one sulking like a cry-baby because I don't want to keep a single promise made to my nakamas… I'm just… I'm just hopeless! Hopeless, stupid, not worthy of them…_

"So it was for Luffy… All of this pain… for Luffy… Baka!" murmured Fuu with a sad smile for Zoro.

SHIN. Zoro was gazing at the hazelnut-haired girl that was giving him a radiant smile even though she had been hurt so much to heal him.

And the swordsman lips crooked into a faint smile, as if to answer 'Look at yourself before speaking!'.

"For Luffy?" paused Nami with a surprised look, "What are you talking about, Fuu? What had Zoro done for Luffy?"

"Hum…" began Fuu with a conniving smile for the swordsman near her, "Nothing much, at least for now! But since everyone is healed now, we should all be able to go and help him, right?"

"Huh… Only that?" insisted Nami with a very suspicious look for her friend.

Zoro arched an eyebrow at seeing Fuu not yielding to Nami's questions, while, from Nami's back, a now-awake Sanji was also gazing at their hazelnut-haired nakama with a warm grin.

The episode was finally closed when Nami surrendered to go and look for some disinfectant in Chopper's little bag, promising Fuu that she had not terminated this conversation.

Fuu grinned as widely as the pain in her whole body was allowing her, and Zoro smiled back at her with one of his captivating obscure expressions, to thank her for keeping his sacrifice at Thriller Bark a secret – even though the one he would have hated the most to learn about it, a certain Ero-Cook, already knew about it.

Ace's mouth twisted a brief second at the sight, and he suddenly and swiftly lifted Fuu in his arms to present her to Chopper, breaking the exchange of smiles between her and the swordsman at the same time. Chopper was indeed preparing bandages and decoctions for Fuu with eyes full of reproaches, now that he had understood who the only person Fuu couldn't heal with her 'spells' was.

"Doctors are not supposed to put themselves in danger to save other people…" lectured he in a sulking tone while treating his hazelnut-haired nakama.

Fuu looked at their little doctor and her heart sunk a bit at the thought.

_Well… I'm not a doctor, so I guess this kind of principles does not apply to me… But I'm sorry you still need to heal me, Chopper, I would manage on my own if I could, but it's just that my healing 'spells' don't work on me…_

_I feel a bit bad for making you take care of me, especially since YOU are the heroes, all of you, and I'm only an unwanted guest supporting you, hum… But on the other hand, I find it funny to hear such a lecture from people who are famous for being reckless and stupid pirates, heehee…_

"You're not planning on going and fight after that, hum?" asked Chopper while seeing the absolutely-not-regretting face Fuu was giving him.

"She doesn't need to!" finally chimed in Ace, now too much concerned to let her be it the possibility of answering, "We'll just go and help this Baka-Otouto by ourselves!"

And everyone reported their attention on Luffy's fight, who had been pelting the Queen's ice shield with so many hits that she had had barely enough time to send him her own attacks, ice spells that Luffy had had few trouble in dodging thanks to the high-speed of his Gear Second.

But even if Luffy had the advantage, the situation hadn't progressed a lot: essentially, the Queen was unharmed, completely unscathed, and she didn't even seem tired or in difficulty, even though she had repeatedly used her power against Sanji, Zoro, Ace and now Luffy.

"Doesn't seem like he'll end up as a frozen statue, but doesn't seem like the Witch is going to lose either…" commented Ace with a shared expression.

"Even if we're four against her, there's no guarantee we'll defeat her!" added Sanji in a deep sigh, "The power of this Witch is really a damned problem, and because it's not a Devil Fruit, we don't even know how to counter it…"

_Sigh… _breathed out I unison all the seven pirates present.

"I have a solution to offer you on that particular point…" suddenly chimed in the voice of the silhouette that had just entered the Royal Courtroom.


	11. Ch 9: Feather of Light

**THE DAY THE BENDED STORY OF ONE PIECE GOT MINGLED WITH THE SNOWS OF TIME**

…

Ice Core & Eternal Feather

…

**ICE PALACE, ROYAL COURTROOM**

"Robin?" exclaimed in unison Nami, Fuu, Ace, Zoro, Sanji and Chopper at seeing the tall silhouette of Robin in her pleated dress standing out against the bluish lit frame of the door.

"Oh… Everyone has already arrived?" commented Robin in a smile at seeing that two of the three orientation-deprived idiots were now among the little group assembled on the side-lines, while the third one was fighting against Queen Jadis a bit farther.

Robin looked at her nakamas, and frowned slightly at inwardly evaluating their current state – seeing their clothes in shambles, more especially the ones of their three fighters' although their body seemed perfectly in shape was peculiar. But everything clipped together when she saw Fuu nearby them, pale and short-of-breath by the repetitive use of her spells but still forcing a smile on her lips to welcome her.

Robin frowned a bit more but said nothing. She then shot a glance at their Senchou, who was still countering and attacking the White Witch, without big damages on his side, but without impact on the Queen either. Estimating she had time to share her findings with everyone without threatening the balance of powers at stake, she finally calmly walked towards the little group of spectators.

"Where were you, Robin?" asked Chopper – who was back in his small pet form – at seeing her kneel down near them, "We were all worried…"

"At the Palace Library…" simply answered Robin.

_As expected from Robin… _thought Fuu with a little drop of weary sweat appearing on her temple.

"A Library much older than the reign of the actual Queen, actually…" précised Robin while briefly recollecting all the works and volumes she had discovered there, books which were telling stories about a Magician, his nephew and some prophecies.

"The room from before…?" remembered Sanji, "And did you find something, Robin-san?"

"You just said you had something against the Queen's power, some kind of solution…" cut Zoro, still thinking about the words Robin had pronounced upon entering the Royal Courtroom, "What kind of solution?"

"More like a plan…" specified Robin with poise, "I discovered from where the Witch is drawing her power."

"Really?" asked Fuu while meeting Robin's eyes, really curious about this particular point – an information she did not have in her own memories from her world.

Robin paused a brief second and gazed upon Fuu, as if mentally debating with herself, before finally beginning her explanation.

"The Queen is a Sorceress from Charn, so she is of a different species than us. As such, she can naturally control magic in a somehow unlimited way…" began Robin with a calm expression.

_Sigh…_ moaned the assistance upon hearing the word 'unlimited', flashbacks of Queen Jadis popping up in their minds, flashbacks where she didn't seem the least bit exhausted and where she was coolly balancing attack and defence until she could find an opening to get rid of her opponents with an unwavering composure.

"… but…" pursued Robin with her usual poise, "She can only CONTROL magic, not CREATE it. As such, she needs to fulfil two conditions in order to make use of her power. Firstly: an artefact specialized in the kind of magic she is planning to use, and which she will use as a vessel for the magical energy. Secondly: a source of magic allowing her to catalyse the energy…"

"The Ice Dragon…" murmured Fuu, as if speaking to herself.

"Yes." confirmed Robin in a small nod.

"If that really was the source and catalyser you just mentioned, then we don't have to worry about this second condition anymore…" announced Ace with an optimist smile, "The Ice Dragon had been released and the Queen can't use it anymore."

"That's very good news for us, then." estimated Robin, her finger resting on her chin while she was considering the new piece of information, "That means that Queen Jadis is now drawing into her own magical energy to fight us. She might not realize it yet, since she had used the Ice Dragon as an unlimited source of magic for a long time now, but the repercussions of depleting her own magic might be strong enough to erase her… Of course, as long as her artefact is intact, it will absorb all the after-effects, but if we manage to destroy it, then we have high chances to destroy the Queen in the process!"

Everyone sighed of relief at hearing such a confident statement, and smiles starting springing up on the pirates face as their confidence was rising back to a reasonable level.

"And? What's this artefact you're talking about?" asked Zoro while raising an eyebrow, not convinced until he'll hear something more concrete.

"It is called the ICE CORE." announced Robin with a calm tone, even if her eyes were burning with curiosity as she was watching out for Fuu's reaction at her declaration.

But Fuu didn't seem more surprised or shocked than anyone else in the group, and Robin's mind raced at wondering if what she had concluded back in the library was only the fruits of her over-analytical imagination after all.

"An… Ice Core? And what is it?" asked Chopper while rising his eyes towards the archaeologist, "Is that alive?"

"No." calmly stated Robin while still measuring up in her mind which information she should reveal.

She looked at Fuu, but the hazelnut-haired girl only answered her with a surprised and curious expression. Robin's eyes narrowed briefly.

"No, the Ice Core is the result of the merging of the Queen's magic with a powerful magic item." explained she while occulting the details about the 'item' until she could ask about it in private to a certain girl apparently linked to it, "It resembles a jewel containing the power of Ice, and therefore she incorporated it into her own weapon."

"Her sceptre, hum?" sighed Sanji, who had had all the 'leisure' to examine the aforementioned staff from a close range when he had tried to destroy Jadis' weapon to protect his dear damsels – and a plush reindeer in bonus.

"Her sceptre." confirmed once more Robin.

"So that kind of white marble in her sceptre's head which freeze everything it touches, it's this Ice Core?" asked Sanji with a very serious expression.

"Yes." confirmed for the third time Robin.

"So if we destroy this Ice Core, it will break Queen Jadis' magic?" asked Fuu, eager and hopeful, "If we destroy it, it will break her Eternal Winter?"

"If we destroy this Ice Core, we can win?" asked Chopper, also beginning to raise his hopes.

"Yes." confirmed Robin another time with the beginning of a smile.

"I don't want to disappoint the three of you," sighed Sanji with poise, "But I already tried to destroy it several times, and with no results! Knowing that it's the key to our victory is not going to help us break it if even my most powerful kicks didn't leave a single scratch on it…"

"That's because you've got no power…" mocked Zoro in a smirk.

"Hey, Marimo!" retorted Sanji, deeply vexed, "Just to remind you, your Nitouryu had no impact on it either! So you're no better!"

"Wh…" snapped Zoro, a vein appearing on his temple, "Damn Dartboard-Eyebrow, you want to check who's the most powerful?"

"You call it, Seaweed-Head!" snarled Sanji while standing up to get in a fighting position.

_That's not really the best moment for that, is it… _thought Fuu, joined in the same thought by a troubled Ace, a panicking Chopper and a philosophe Robin, while the two rivals were already at each other's throat.

"So…" called Ace while turning his head towards Robin to pursue the conversation, "Do you know how to break this Ice Core? I kind of trust that if these two couldn't even scratch it, it must be…"

"It's not just these two!" suddenly cut a feminine voice, "Even after all of Luffy's hits, this damned sceptre is untouched…"

And Nami finally turned her head towards her nakama, momentarily averting her eyes from Luffy's fight, which she had followed ever since Robin had entered the room, not participating in the conversation before that.

"So do you have an idea, Robin?" asked Nami, a bit of worry clouding her voice.

"I have…" conceded Robin with a calm tone, "But…"

"But…?" repeated Fuu, curious, at seeing Robin pausing her explanation to glance at Luffy and Jadis, who were still fighting at the other end of the Royal Courtroom.

"Ace-san," called Robin while turning her head towards WhiteBeard's Second Commander, "I would need Senchou-san to hear the plan I'm going to explain you right now. Could you do something about the Queen?"

Ace's eyes narrowed a bit, but he stood up with a confident smile.

"At your service…" chuckled he while walking towards the two fighters, unaware of the worry eyes that were following his back.

_Ace? Wh… what is he going to…_

"Enjomo!" called Ace when he was close enough, swiftly sending a moving wall of flames towards the two opponents.

The web of fire was on Queen Jadis in no time.

"Icy Shield." called the Queen, seemingly not perturbed by this sudden intervention.

And the sphere of ice surrounded her instantly, protecting her from the flames.

Ace smiled. Jadis frowned.

The 'Enjomo' had not been sent as an attack, but rather as a net, in order to imprison temporarily the Queen and give Robin sufficient time to explain everyone her strategy. And now that WhiteBeard's Second Commander was back in full shape, he knew even Jadis will have some trouble getting rid of his flames after they had closed down on her.

Indeed, the White Witch – who had by now realised the trap she had fallen into – was now cursing the fire-mastering Son of Adam while struggling inside the sphere of intense fire to try and make it break from the inside.

"Hey, Ace!" shouted Luffy while turning his head towards his brother, really on the nerves, "It's my fight, don't butt in!"

"Heehee…" smirked Ace with a scheming expression at arriving just behind Luffy.

BAM. And he briskly grabbed his little brother and lift him from the floor before putting him on his shoulder – exactly like a potatoes bag, or rather exactly like Luffy had done with him mere minutes before.

"ACE?" roared Luffy even louder than before, "What the…? Let me go!"

But Ace flatly ignored the childish order and calmly walked towards the side-lines where everyone was waiting, his 'load' ready to get delivered.

"Hey, I can walk, what the… So kakkowarui!" snapped Luffy while struggling to get out of Ace's catch.

But against his big brother in full condition, Luffy had no more chance of winning in pure strength than when they were children. And it's without any trouble that Ace finally brought back a sulking Luffy and put him on the floor near everyone else, a very _annoying _content smile on his lips for having gotten his revenge.

"Now that everyone is there, listen carefully what I'm going to explain." announced Robin while assembling everyone around her, "We are going to … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …"

And when the Queen finally managed to make Ace's net of flames implode under a devastating ice draught, she saw with stupor that her opponents had multiplied, and not only by being more numerous, but also by cloning themselves.

"Mirage Tempo!" had called Nami while making her ClimaTact twirl, creating five distorted copies of each of her nakamas to confuse Jadis and give her less probability of hitting the real one with her sceptre.

"Now, Ken-san!" called Robin – or rather Robin's mouths which she had replicated on the shirts of the pirates with her Hana Hana no Mi, like very strange earphones allowing everyone to synchronise their attack.

Zoro dashed towards the Queen, accompanied by his four clones, his three katanas back in their sheaths but his hands ready on two of their hilts.

"Icy Statue!" screeched the Queen at realising something was going on.

She targeted one of the mirages with her sceptre, and Zoro's clone turned into a cloud of frost before vanishing completely.

"Nitouryu Iai: Rashomon!" called Zoro while unsheathing at light speed, his attack focused on the head of Jadis' sceptre.

Being back to full puissance was definitely a good thing for the swordsman since his attack had the desired impact. : under the strength of the Zoro's hit, the white wood which was enclosing the Ice Core split brutally and finally exploded in a myriad of splinters, under the rictus of rage of the Queen.

"Ace-san!" called Robin's voice in her multiplied mouths, temporising the next step of the attack.

Ace swiftly appeared behind the Queen, accompanied by his four clones.

"Enjomo…" called he softly while sending a small fire-ball toward the Witch.

Flabbergasted by the lack of strength of the attack – especially from someone who had managed to find an opening and come so close to her – Queen Jadis lifted her sceptre to intercept the small bubble of flames.

Ace was smiling.

Jadis was frowning more and more deeply, wondering what he could expect from such a small fire-ball.

Ace was still smiling, his eyes glancing at the sceptre with satisfaction.

And Jadis realised with horror that the spark hadn't been intended against her, but on the contrary had perfectly succeeded in surrounding the Ice Core with a thin yet resistant screen of flames.

"Cook-san!" called Robin's voice in the mouth-earphones, transmitting to an already-waiting Sanji the instruction to pursue the plan.

"Diable Jambe: Flambage Shot!" called Sanji while sending a lateral enflamed kick in the now-vulnerable artefact in the head of the Queen's sceptre.

Powerless, the White Witch could only gaze at the Ice Core when it rifted, cracked, and finally crumbled, without letting a single frostbite on the leg of the attacker – Ace's screen of fire having deadened the powers of the ice jewel.

The broken pieces of the white sphere that was the Ice Core fell on the floor with a noise of tingling marble, leaving Jadis without weapon… and without magical barrier to prevent her energy from being drained anymore.

In answer to the loss of power, the Queen's face seemed to freeze, and turned a snowy white. Her skin, her hair, her eyes… her whole body now resembled a human-shaped snow-man, while Jadis was muttering impossible-to-hear cursing words at realizing what was happening to her.

"Senchou-san! The final blow!" called Robin's voice, the message being relayed by her replicated mouths.

Luffy was already ready, his fist still on the floor and his whole body smoking of vapour created by the pumping movement he had used to dope himself.

"Gomu Gomu no… Jet Gatling!" called Luffy while sending a multitude of punches towards the Queen.

The snowish-white Witch exploded into a myriad of snow-flakes, which slowly fell back on the floor when Luffy's attack calmed down.

The small crystals of ice melted away, bringing away with them the last traces of Queen Jadis.

"Target destroyed." simply announced Robin with an expressionless tone, before resorbing all her duplicated mouths to mark the end of the operation.

'_Target destroyed'… aww, come on…? _thought Fuu with a huge drop of perplexed sweat appearing on her temple, _You just defeated the Witch for good, a bit more of enthusiasm, for God's sake!_

And as if to answer the silent comment, Luffy's voice echoed across the vast Royal Courtroom:

"WE DID IT!" shouted he while raising his two fists to the ceiling in a glorious pose.

He then turned around to shot his stupid happy grin to everyone. Nami smiled in return and run towards him. Zoro, Ace and Sanji smiled faintly and walked also in his direction to share their happiness in his shouts of victory.

"Hum…" called a little voice near Fuu.

The hazelnut-haired girl looked at the one who had spoken and was fidgeting under contradictory feelings.

"Do you think we can go with them?" asked Chopper while raising his eyes towards Fuu, "We didn't do anything so I feel useless, a bit…"

Fuu's eyes widened a brief second under guilt but she swept it away to bring back a comforting smile on her lips.

"Really? Hum, I think it's mainly valid for me…" commented she with a mocking smile, "After all, you'd better run to them and see if Sanji's leg is alright after the hit he has given to the Ice Core. And you also need to examine Luffy and tend to the wounds he's received during his fight with the Queen… So you have a lot of work Chopper, what could we do without an amazing doctor like you?"

"Y… you think you can just flatter me like that, you yaro? Baka!" exclaimed Chopper while dancing of joy under the compliment, before grabbing his little backpack and rushing towards the others.

Fuu fought back a giggle and glanced at everyone celebrating their victory with shared feelings. But at seeing Luffy and Nami happily grinning at each other, she just let joy take it over everything else and smiled widely.

"Are you not joining them, Fuu?" asked Robin who had walked closer to her friend.

"Hum, you neither, it would seem…" cunningly retorted Fuu with a smile for the archaeologist.

"Actually, I wanted to show you something." explained she while holding out to Fuu some marble fragments that her 'Slalom Vine' had picked up on the battlefield and brought back to her.

_The remnants of the Ice Core? _wondered Fuu at contemplating the pieces in Robin's hands.

But Robin was looking at her with insistence, and with an eerie glow in her eyes, as if she knew something that the others were ignoring, but above all as if she knew Fuu also shared this missing information.

Fuu graciously arched an eyebrow and finally extended her fingers towards the rests of the ice jewel.

FLASH. At the very second Fuu's fingertips brushed the marble fragments, the Ice Core seemed to react to her touch and projected an intense flash of white light.

_Wh…? _panicked Fuu at seeing the pieces of the Ice Core seeming to melt inside the light and assemble.

And when the light finally resorbed, Fuu finally glanced at the newly created item: an eerie feather of light adorned with a heart-shaped rune was glowing inside her hands.

_Wh…? IMPOSSIBLE! This Feather? But… nonsense! It can't be…_

Fuu was completely hypnotized by the Feather of Light faintly floating inside her palms, and which had started to irradiate a soft white light around her and Robin.

Attracted – or alerted depending on the people – by Fuu's discovery, Luffy, Chopper, Nami, Sanji, Zoro and Ace were converging towards her and Robin, either wanting their share of fun or worrying for the one who was apparently holding on to a dangerous object.

And when everyone finally reached Fuu, it was only to assist to the impressive unfurling of magic of the Feather all around them: the floor of frozen rock, the walls with icy-stained windows, the columns of bluish ice, the whole Ice Palace was being enclosed inside the magic of the eerie feather and was slowly losing its veil of white frost which had been covering it until now.

The aura of soft light emanating from the Feather of Light gently spread on the whole mountain, the whole island, resorbing all the snow and all the ice: the countryside gradually came back to life, growing green again, and slowly, time started to flow again on Fimbul.

_Spring… succeeded to Winter… _thought Fuu while raising her eyes towards the shattered ceiling of the Royal Courtroom, across which was now shining the warm light of the sun reborn after a never-ending frozen night.

"All trace of what the Queen had created with her power is disappearing." commented with poise Robin while contemplating the change of scenery all around them, "Her curse is broken for good."

"Yes/ Yeah/ Hum…" nodded in unison all the others, smiling at finally seeing the sun rise on this world delivered from its Hundred Years Winter.

FLASH. But the white aura which had been resorbing slowly towards the Feather stopped half-way.

_Huh? _wondered Fuu at feeling the soft white light wind round her and her nakamas, with still the same power of dissolution.

"What…?" exclaimed Nami.

"Hey…" murmured Chopper.

"Bah?" gasped Luffy.

"Tsk!" grumbled Zoro.

"But…" tilted Sanji.

"That's…" screeched Ace.

"Yare yare…" smiled Robin.

_Tell me it's a mistake! _inwardly screamed Fuu at realising that the magical aura was slowly replacing theirs clothes – outfits that Fuu was now remembering they had been created by the Queen's magic – into a soft veil of white light while the Feather was gradually dissolving them.

_NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!_

FLASH. In a final blinding flash of light, the Feather finished its 'task' and absorbed the last traces of the White Witch's power: the three long pleated dresses of Robin, Nami and Fuu and the white suits of the guys – and the little reindeer.

"Kyaaa!" CLONG. FUSH. 'Dos Fleurs" chimed in like a ballet of four steps.

"Kyaaa!" had screamed Fuu and Nami at realizing their clothes had just disappeared.

CLONG, had unhooked the jaws of the four guys under the same notice.

FUSH, had instinctively reacted Fuu by releasing her power to make herself, Nami and Robin invisible.

"Dos Fleurs" had also reacted Robin while making duets of hands appear on the guys' heads to cover their eyes.

SHIN. A small second of silence fell on the situation.

"Hum… Fuu, Robin, I'm grateful, don't take me wrong, but…" began Nami, her cheeks shared between an annoyed flush and an embarrassed blush, "But if you were going to make us invisible, Fuu, I would have appreciated if you had also included the guys in your 'spell'…"

"I… I was… just telling myself the same thing…" mumbled Fuu, blushing furiously of complete embarrassment.

"Oh, are you not appreciating the show, Kokkaishi-san, Fuu?" asked Robin with a teasing smile.

_Are you kidding? _cried inwardly Fuu and Nami, but with different follow-ups, _How embarrassing…/What if they ask me money in return, this time…_

Not even daring to turn her eyes towards Ace, Zoro, Sanji and Luffy, Fuu started whispering another spell, her cheeks still beat red.

_Waaaahhh… I wished this invisibility 'spell' on impulse, but when thinking about it, new clothes for everyone is way smarter… And the final result way less embarrassing!_


	12. Ch 10: Spring's Arrival

**THE DAY THE BENDED STORY OF ONE PIECE GOT MINGLED WITH THE SNOWS OF TIME**

…

Spring's Arrival

…

**NEW WORLD, FIMBUL**

"Hey, come on…" was sulking Luffy with a pout, "What happened in this big light thing?"

BONG. Nami's fist had hit – harshly – Luffy's head leaving a big red and smoking bump on it.

"Don't bring that up again, I said!" shouted Nami while baring her teeth, before averting her eyes and walking away from him.

The rest of the spectators hadn't answered Luffy's question either, still feeling odd about what had happened…

Of course, after the magic dissolution of their clothes, Fuu had created new garments with her power, so everything could have tried and pretend to have not happened, would it have been for Luffy. Because the little magic trick had happened nearly simultaneously, and Fuu had also replicated their previous outfits nearly exactly the same way as they were before – but bright new and not in shambles –, and it had resulted in a deeply perplexed Luffy, who had started sniffing his new white vest with a dumbfounded expression.

And after having determined the jacket was not the same as the previous one – it seemed that Fuu's magic wasn't leaving the same smell as the Queen's magic – he had concluded that something had happened. And so he had naturally asked everyone if the dream-like moment of 'seeing everyone's clothes disappear – the girls' dresses too – just before everything became dark and then when the light was on again, the clothes were back but everyone seemed to have their cheeks redder than usual' was really not a dream in the end.

The comment had made Robin chuckle a lot, but not the others.

Fuu and Nami had immediately and silently dashed ahead of everyone – the first one blushing like it shouldn't be allowed to, and the second annoyed and flushed with anger – trying really hard not to remember the aforementioned 'happening'.

Sanji had been lost in his own thoughts with some perverted smiles springing up on his lips from times to others, probably trying to burn in his memory every detail of the scene he had witnessed.

Chopper was still perplexed, not understanding why everyone looked ill-at-ease, and was now asking Robin to explain him why was that.

And on their sides, Zoro and Ace had strangely adopted the same behaviour, dragging at the queue of the group with the childish expressions of two kids sulking after having been caught in an embarrassing situation.

_Don't think about it… stop recollecting it… don't remember it! Grr… I feel like my cheeks will never cool down! _thought Fuu before stopping abruptly her train of thoughts at the same time as her feet when she reached the top of the hill.

Her mind suddenly cleared up of everything else to see only one thing.

_How beautiful!_

"Nami…" called Fuu in a breath without even being able to turn her eyes towards her nakama, completely mesmerized by what she was seeing, "Look…"

"Huh?" tilted Nami before finally contemplating the scenery in front of them, her eyes widening in the same mesmerized expression as Fuu.

The hills between the Palace and the village were shining verdantly like an endless emerald field, glittering timidly under the rejuvenated sun of Fimbul.

Snow-drops, crocuses and other spring flowers of a thousand colours were sprinkling the valley with a myriad of shimmering nuances, while the trees were gradually showing off their tender green buds.

Upon reaching the top of the hill where they were now standing, all the pirates stopped and held back their breath – even Luffy – in front of the magical scenery displaying in front of their eyes.

The wind blew, softly…

A warm breeze with the smell of Spring…

Smiles started to spring up on everyone's faces, before turning into wide grins of pure happiness…

And in a final complete bliss, everyone started running down the grassy hill with bursts of joy and laughter, Luffy, Chopper and Nami far ahead.

"WE DID IT!" was shouting Luffy while jumping everywhere with his usual overjoyed grin.

"We destroyed the Hundred Years Winter!" was gleaming Nami with delight while twirling around in the warm vernal air.

"Nature is alive again!" exclaimed Chopper while rolling in the grass and sharing his joy with a passing-by squirrel.

_Yes… Everything is for the best, thanks to everyone… _ thought Fuu with a pure and sincere smile while softly touching under her fingertips the belt which was holding her long pleated dress into place – belt under which she had slipped the Feather of Light.

**

* * *

FIMBUL, BEAVERS' ONSEN**

"HEY! Everyone!" called Luffy with huge gestures upon reaching the inn of their beaver friends, "We're back!"

"THEY'RE BACK!" shouted of joy all the pirates and fantastic creatures present there while turning their delighted faces towards the Mugiwaras, Fuu and Ace.

The village seemed safe and sound, to everyone's relief.

Ace met up with his nakamas with a warm grin: the WhiteBeard Pirates had disembarked upon hearing the news that their First and Second Commander might have been kidnapped by an evil Witch, and had most readily joined the centaurs, pegasuses, minotaurs and nymphs in their fight against the detachments of Royal Guards.

The battle had been endless, until an impressive wave of soft white light had reached the village, breaking up the Hundred Years Winter curse and melting the remaining Guards of Ice into puddles of irony water, soon absorbed by a rejuvenated nature. Such a sign had comforted everyone into believing in the Mugiwaras' victory, and pirates and creatures had been expecting their return with impatient happiness.

So the reunion was enthusiast, joyful and noisy, especially at witnessing they were all sound except Luffy, himself only having a couple of bruises for being the only one who had not been healed by Fuu's power back at the Palace.

The hazelnut-haired girl gazed with a soft smile at her nakamas running towards Usopp, Brook and Franky – who had also disembarked to join forces with the fantastic creatures – and share noisily the tales of their respective exploits.

"Ah, Fuu!" suddenly exclaimed Usopp at seeing her walking towards them, completely cutting his own story at remembering something important, "Your bro asked me to tell you to call him when you'll be back."

And with a grin, he put Clow's communication mirror into Fuu's hands, before resuming his big story-telling to a star-shaped eyed Chopper and a laughing Luffy.

_Sounds like the battle is not finished for me… _sighed Fuu with half-an-amused smile for the small mirror gleaming in her hands, _I'm sure he's going to chew me again…_

And she discreetly escaped the How-the-Great-Usopp-sama-destroyed-a-thousand-battalions-of-Guards conversation to go and find a quiet place to discuss with her brother.

She glanced back at the big commotion the news of their victory had created in the whole village before slowly walking into the nearby forest.

POF. Clow's face popped up in the round mirror when Fuu activated it to contact him.

"Morning, Neechan!" began the voice of Clow with a faint smile.

"Morning…" answered Fuu in an amused smile at thinking her night had flew her by without her noticing, "Hum, I know you don't like to appear in person, but seriously, speaking to you through a mirror is not agreeable… Can't you make a little effort, huh?"

"You can't seriously be hoping for me to come and freeze to death at Fimbul, right?" retorted Clow with a mocking expression.

"It's not Winter anymore here: Luffy and the others defeated the White Witch, should I remind you?" declared Fuu in a lecturing tone, perfectly knowing that her brother already knew all of what had happened, "And also… something appeared…"

Fuu slowly drew the Feather of Light from her belt and presented it to her brother, just above the mirror.

"Do you mind explaining me what a Feather from Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles is doing HERE?" began Fuu with a calm tone despite her boiling curiosity, "Never minding the whole paradox on this island… I mean, how Narnia's Story can be replicated here, completely mixing up with One Piece scenario?"

"I had told you my little conjuring trick had disrupted this Universe…" sighed Clow while averting his eyes from his sister's sulking expression.

"That's not only One Piece Story we are talking about here!" remarked Fuu while graciously arching an eyebrow, "Are you telling me the paradoxes are not ONLY including One Piece Universe?"

"The world of fan-fictions is endless, you know…" explained Clow in a weary smile, "I've been chasing paradoxes for a few months, and I already saw that the discrepancies are not only involving Oda-Sensei's work… To make it short, the whole fictional world has been turned upside down: novels, mangas, movies or video-games… every fandom just blended inside the huge paradox we've caused, using the breach I created to escape their own universe and invade this one…"

"I think this very same Oda-Sensei is going to be shocked beyond words if he witnesses all of these unwanted guests inside his Story…" mocked Fuu while crooking a smile.

_And my dear little brother who is worshipping this very same Oda-Sensei is probably having a hard time too, hihihi…_

"I know that!" snapped Clow with a vein popping on his forehead, rather annoyed at the comment, "That's why I've been travelling for months now: to fix up this huge mess! I can't let this goes on like that, my pride as an author is at stake!"

_I was expecting that much… _inwardly laughed Fuu.

"I've been travelling to gather these damned Feathers in order to use them to fill in the breaches between Universes… I've been travelling ever since we first arrived in this World to detect and rectify all these paradoxes… And you… YOU…" began Clow while crossing his arms on his chest to try and control his irascibility, "While I am travelling to the four corners of the Five Seas, YOU, you who is just having a nice little cruise with the heroes, you who didn't even know how these paradoxes were working, you just end up on one and solve it BY CHANCE!"

Clow was now boiling, multiples veins of annoyed anger bumping on his temples.

"Sor… sorry…" apologized Fuu with a huge drop of sweat on her temple, while trying not to laugh at her brother's upset expression.

"This world is just unfair…" finally sighed Clow when cooling down.

"Hum, well…" tried Fuu with a shared expression, "But… oh! Let's see the positive aspect of it: you got a Feather back without having to do anything… Besides, you said it was by chance, but probably not! I mean, you are an author, so you should now: in this world, there's no coincidence!"

TILT. Clow reacted at the remark and raised an eyebrow. It wasn't the first time he and his sister were having a debate about fate, and he had been obliged to concede her a victory because of his author's point of view. But it didn't mean he couldn't resume the fight…

"Girls and their stupid conception of destiny, tsk!" sneered he with a smirk – perfectly safe on the other side of the mirror, which was protecting him from the punch his sister was generally answering him when he was mocking her with such provocations.

TILT. Fuu frowned deeply at the comment but kept her cool, not wanting to grant her opponent the victory of seeing her upset.

"Oh? Well, sorry to have a brain and to use it… It's true you guys don't know how to do so…" smiled she in a very provocative way.

SNAP. Clow's face hardened, and he kept silent for a bit, before finally surrendering.

"So…" sighed he at resuming the original – and more important – topic of conversation, "You're suggesting that it's not a coincidence if these paradoxes are ending up on Luffy's and the others' road?"

"I think it is not…" declared Fuu with her index resting on her chin, trying to analyse what had happened previously, "After all, Queen Jadis' Ice Core transformed into Tsubasa Feather when I touched it: not when the Witch was defeated, not when Robin picked it up… but when it came in contact with ME, someone from the real world…"

"The paradoxes are not attracted by our presence if that's what you're implying…" answered Clow with a world-weary tone, having already tried the same approach in the past, "But you do have a point here: we're the only ones who can reveal the Feather's existence. Actually, as long as the Feather is merging with a Story from another fandom, I can't detect it, even with my Kari Kari no Mi… It's a very complex paradox, what you call 'Cores'…"

"Huh?" titled Fuu, surprised and a bit panicked by the declaration "What do you mean, 'complex'? No, before that, there are other 'Cores'? And, wait, how come you couldn't detect such a huge paradox before but now you can?"

"I don't know!" ranted Clow while shrugging his shoulders to cut down his sister in her series of questions, "But as you said, it might not be a coincidence if these huge paradoxes end up on Luffy and the others' road… It might mean that the Story is trying to rectify itself on its own… like a body curing itself without any exterior help… Well, somehow, it's not really odd to think of it as such: after all, every Story is alive!"

"And here comes the author speech again!" laughed Fuu, an amused smile floating on her lips, "So I assume the all-mighty author you are would like to retrieve the Feather now, for whatever conjuring trick he's using it to close down passages between Universes, hihihi…"

_After all, if Paradoxes are embodying into elements from other fandoms, I guess a Tsubasa Feather is the best way to symbolize the link between alternative universes, huh…_

"Please…" grinned Clow while holding out his hand towards the mirror's edge.

TILT. Fuu's eyes widened at the sight, and she glanced at the Feather with circumspection.

_He wants me to give him the Feather THROUGH the mirror? Is he kidding me? No, wait, Clow can use his mirrors to cross between two places, but it works for objects too?_

A bit – a lot – baffled but not against trying this method, Fuu softly put the Feather on the mirror, which nearly instantly absorbed it, to the utter amazement of the hazelnut-haired girl.

"Thanks." smiled Clow who had now the Feather in his hand on the other side of the mirror, "Using it to resorb the paradox will only take a second."

"WAIT!" called Fuu, suddenly panicking at remembering what had happened when the two Robins had merged, "Wait, with which consequences?"

And she glanced back worriedly at all her nakamas who were already partying to celebrate their victory with the fantastic creatures.

"Don't worry like that or you'll end up bald, hahaha… " laughed Clow from the other side of the mirror, "It kind of won't change anything for them when I'll solve this paradox!"

Fuu pouted a bit at the first part of the comment but the second quieted her mind.

"After all, since we are the only ones knowing there's something wrong with this part of the Story, there's no reason for their memory to be altered…" added Clow to comfort a bit his sister, "So even if the style is different from usual, for everyone in this world it will just sound like a normal adventure. I'm already anticipating the expressions the next pirates will wear on their faces at arriving on this island and hearing that Mugiwara no Luffy was the long-expected Son of Adam from the Prophecy, hahaha…"

"Hum, well, that's…" muttered vaguely Fuu with a huge drop of weary sweat appearing on her head.

"Oh, and since Luffy is still the hero for this adventure, I'm feeling obliged to grant you the Jury Special Award for your attempt of moderating the use of your Hoshi Hoshi no Mi…" softly teased Clow, "Well, it's the thought that counts… because respecting to the results…"

"Wh… WHAT?" nearly choked on Fuu at seeing the mocking smirk on her brother's lips, "You're… you're too much! I… I tried my best, you know! I used my power only to help them: I never stole the spotlight from your heroes! And I kept my promise with Luffy until the end, no matter how hard it was… and I… I…"

"Hum, not too sure about the last part: you nearly used it, at the end…" retorted Clow, silencing his sister right away while she was remembering the shining energy in her hand at Luffy's entrance during Ace and Jadis' fight, "Oh, and instead of letting them being beaten up by the Queen, couldn't you have just neutralized her by making her sleep? Or maybe by making her sceptre slip from her hands? THAT would have been helpful…"

SHIN. A small silence fell.

Clow was still sighing in a mocking pose, as if very weary of his own sister's stupidity.

Fuu was still shocked, slowly assimilating the remark.

"I BEG YOUR PARDON?" shouted she when finally managing to react, her face a picture of full incomprehension, "You would have killed me for ruining the story with such a stupid, overly easy, anti-interesting way of ending the fight!"

_And… and seriously, what do you think people feel when seeing their nakamas being beaten to the pulp right in front of them?_

"Well, most probably…" grinned Clow with a very mighty smirk, "I would have chewed you hard-core, at least! But come on, you've got to agree it's so stunning to think that you have an absolute power but that you don't even manage to use it the right way!"

And on this note, Clow busted into laughter, to Fuu's bitter pique, not knowing anymore if she should feel deeply vexed or angry.

"Tsk… that's so easy for you to say that afterwards…" sulked she, red with shame and resentment.

_That's just the kind of thing you can say when the battle is finished and when you have time to think calmly about things… just the kind of point of view of an omniscient narrator… Tsk, it's way more complicated to control your emotions when you're deep into action than when you're peacefully writing a story from behind a laptop!_

_Do you even know how it feels to have adrenaline blurring all your senses and just making you wish to keep out of harm? Grr, I'm only human! A normal human! Don't take me for what I'm not…_

"Oh well…" finally stopped laughing Clow, "Since you've still deserved your share of partying, you should go back with everyone… Oh, and before I forgot, I learned recently that we are also bound by the laws of 'Spoilers' here, so be careful!"

POF. And before Fuu could utter a single syllable, Clow had switched off his mirror, leaving a dumbfounded Fuu, still perplexed at the last remark but somehow happy to have heard that her brother somehow approved of her way of using her Hoshi Hoshi no Mi during that adventure.

_I guess I can't rejoice completely yet, but at least, not enduring an endless lecture is somewhat encouraging…_

And she swiftly slipped the mirror in the belt holding her long white pleated dress before leaving the shades of the tree and going to reunite with her nakamas and the inhabitants, who were celebrating the defeat of the White Witch with the chiming of Kampais, loads of hydromel and delicious food, and music and dancing.

**

* * *

FIMBUL, VILLAGE MAIN PLAZA**

"LET'S PARTY!" exclaimed Luffy in a joyful shout while dragging everyone around the huge fire which had been lit up at the centre of the plaza.

Everyone was present around the hearth, tankards in their hands and laughing smiles on everybody's lips: the Mugiwaras, the WhiteBeard's Pirates, the fantastic creatures and animals of Fimbul, everyone!

"It reminds me of Skypiea!" laughed Nami while meeting up with Luffy, Usopp and Chopper is the round of dancers.

Brook had taken the lead of an orchestra of animals and spirits from the forest, while Franky was organising the supplies for the huge fire. Zoro was drinking on a bench with some WhiteBeard's Pirates, while Ace was doing the same a bit farther with Marco and the other Commanders. Sanji was already skirt-chasing, as usual, but with as much success as usual.

And Fuu met up with everyone when the party was already all fired up. But she preferred to join Robin on a tree-trunk bench at some distance from the dancers where another guest soon joined them, also preferring the side-lines to the round of dancers.

"It does have been numerous years since our Kingdom had not hosted such a joyful occasion…" commented Aslan with his calm and warm voice, "It does really touch our hearts to see smiles on everyone's lips! And your leader incontestably knows how to carry people away in a common feeling of shared happiness…"

Robin and Fuu smiled at following Aslan's gaze for Luffy who was still attracting/dragging everyone on the dance-floor.

"Hum…" nodded Fuu in an amused giggle, "Even when we're used to it, it's still nice…"

"Nice… but dangerous at the same time…" added Robin with one of her most mysterious smile.

"Dangerous?" repeated Aslan, a hint of surprise sipping into the noble King's voice, "For which reason, might I ask?"

But the answer came without a need for words for the majestic Lion.

"GROAR…" let escape Aslan of stunned stupefaction when two arms of gum grabbed him before making him fly in mid-air at full speed and finally forced him to join the dance around the fire.

"For THAT reason…" laughed Fuu and Robin at seeing the Lion so suddenly catapulted onto the dance-floor.

"Hihihi… There's only Luffy who would do that to a King…" giggled Fuu at the sight.

"Most definitely." approved Robin in an amused smile.

Robin's eyes then turned towards Fuu – who was still happily gazing at the scene around the fire – and she hesitated a second to ask her the question which was burning her lips. She glanced at Clow's mirror which was partially sticking out from Fuu's iridescent belt and fixed her resolve.

"Say, Fuu…" began Robin with her usual calm composure.

"Yes?" enquired Fuu while turning her head towards the archaeologist, still half-laughing at the show of Luffy trying to show King Aslan how to dance.

"The Feather of Light…" began Robin, startling Fuu right from the beginning, "It's one of the things your brother Clow-san and yourself are searching in order to solve what you call 'Paradoxes', am I right?"

Robin had spoken with a calm yet resolved tone, with assurance yet with leaving Fuu an opening.

The dark-haired woman was perfectly remembering the pattern on this Feather, a pattern also present a brief moment in her blurry memory, amidst images of Fuu taking care of her as a child and images of her cabin on the Moby Dick.

And when she had spied on Fuu's and Clow's conversation, the Hoshi Hoshi no Mi had not been the only topic of conversation, so now time had come for her to ask for answers.

Fuu gulped down with difficulty and bit her inferior lips, her mind rushing to try and find an escape road out.

_Oh my… I hadn't thought she would bring this topic up so soon… And besides the Feather, she seems to have learned a lot of things… too many things… Her wandering ears are definitely a problem…_

_Tsk! What was I hoping, Robin is probably one of the most sagacious people of this world, of course she made her own conclusions and went to search for the missing pieces of the puzzle… Hoping to delude her was naïve of me! I think I'd better try and tell her a bit about the situation rather than waiting for her to discover it on her own… It would be better, especially if I want to find a way to hide our origins from her…_

"Th… that's correct." finally answered Fuu, looking Robin straight in her eyes with a very serious expression, "I guess you overheard my brother and me talking about it, but… that was something we didn't wish anyone of you to learn about."

"I kind of realised that…" pursued Robin with a soft yet sad smile, "And why is that?"

SHIN. Fuu's eyes widened at the question, a bit shocked without really knowing why the question had surprised her that much.

"Hum, well… It's a problem caused by my brother's power, but caused because of me… So it's our responsibilities to solve it. I don't want to trouble you all with it…" finally managed to explain Fuu with a sad smile, "Moreover, I guess it could have dreadful consequences for you if you were to learn the details behind all of that…"

_How could I ever tell people I care for that they are only fictional heroes evolving into a predetermined Story…? _thought Fuu with a strong bitter after-taste invading her mouth.

She then sighed deeply to get rid of the acidity between her lips and glanced over the huge fire around which were partying her nakamas.

"I definitely do not want to risk anything that could change the current situation… Besides, even if you helped us so much to defeat the Witch and get the Ice Core back, it seems only my brother and I can change it into a Feather and use it to solve the problems we've caused… But if Luffy knew, he would want to help, and he would feel bad for not being able to help more than that… so I prefer not to involve you all into it…" murmured Fuu while dropping her face under the shadow of her hair, the weight of her own uselessness more than eager to remind her how it felt to be powerless into helping out one's nakamas.

Robin gazed upon the sad and guilty expression of Fuu, and she thought about Ohara, about her own mission of Poneglyphs archaeologist. She couldn't help but feel a similitude but she didn't want her friend to follow the path she had herself chosen.

"Sometimes…" began Robin while averting her eyes from Fuu to glance at Luffy and the others around the fire, "Sometimes it's not possible to share your burden with others, because it's a duty or a knowledge that is only yours. So sometimes we keep quiet because we think they won't be able to help even if they knew… but that's just an excuse!"

TILT. Fuu's eyes widened at the declaration and she raised her eyes to look at her friend.

"It's only an excuse…" repeated Robin with moved eyes that were still following the Mugiwaras' dancing shadows around the fire, "Even if the people around us can't help us literally, they can always support us. Encouraging us, trusting us… unconditionally… without asking for anything in return… And that's worth more than any knowledge they could have!"

Robin was now smiling widely, smiling brightly, and Fuu couldn't help but smile in return.

"It's true…" whispered she with a touched expression.

"So, in spite of being able to help you concretely, I'll always be there to listen to you." added Robin in a conniving tone, "It must be hard on you, not being able to speak about this quest to anyone, am I right?"

"Hum…" smiled heart-fully Fuu, "Then will you also speak about your Quest? About the Poneglyphs on Pluton and Poseidon?"

TILT. The remark seemed to startle Robin, but she kept her cool and answered in a friendly and light tone.

"Ooh, and how do you know about these names?" asked she with an amused yet perplexed smile.

"So… sorry… it was kind of low from me…" admitted Fuu, embarrassed at having teased her friend in such an unfair way, "It's just, well, my brother and I know a lot of things about this world and…"

ZAAA. Fuu didn't have time to utter a single syllable more: her sentence was immediately interrupted by the intense aching of multiple slashes that deeply lacerated her body, making her want to scream out of pain.

_KYAAA! i_nwardly screamed Fuu, _It burns… Ugh… It hurts so much! What the… why…? Where is that coming from…? I didn't use my power, so why?_

And without knowing why, the last sentence from her brother popped in her mind, the flashback cooling down a bit the burning of her senses.

_Bound by… the law of… __'spoilers'… SPOILERS? What the…? Spoilers, tell me it's a joke… I know fictional fandoms are really harsh about spoilers but don't tell me these it-hurts-as-Hell slashes are some spoiler warnings?_

"Fuu?" was panicking Robin, having already jumped on her feet to look around worriedly for the culprit behind this attack but without detecting anyone.

"It… it's fine Robin, it's me… it's fine…" panted Fuu while grinding her teeth not to scream of pain when finally opening her lips.

_It's just me… It seems like I said something considered as spoilers and the Story is punishing me, tsk… I'd better hold my tongue in the future, it hurts even more than when my Devil Fruit is running low in energy…_

"Fuu, are you okay?" asked once more Robin while examining the deep slash into Fuu's flesh and frowning even more deeply at realizing that these wounds had come out of nowhere, but above all at realizing Fuu hadn't let out a single scream despite the cut bleeding so heavily, "I'm going to call Isha-san!"

BAM. But Fuu grabbed Robin by a pleat of her dress and brought her back on the bench.

"I'm fine!" lied she while slowly releasing her power into the silver aura of her healing 'spell' to close down the wounds, "I'm fine, please don't alert anyone! I was at fault for intending to reveal something I wasn't supposed to say…"

SHIN. Robin looked at Fuu with worried and dumbfounded eyes, not integrating how speaking about something could cause such injuries while no one else was there to dispense them.

"Because you spoke about it?" repeated Robin, as if speaking to herself.

The dark-haired woman watched over Fuu as the last stains of blood were disappearing under the 'spell', feeling some regrets at remembering she had been the one to encourage her to speak.

"I'm really sorry…" finally said she with an apologetic smile for her friend.

"It's fine, come on!" tried to cheer her up Fuu, her usual smile back on her lips now that the wounds had been erased, "Besides, I'm starting to get used to it, this was nothing!"

_Well, my Hoshi Hoshi no Mi is regularly back-firing on me, so… And these 'Spoilers' slashes have at least the advantage of not being cause by my abusing my Devil Fruit so I can use a 'spell' to heal them…_

Robin forced a smile back on her lips at seeing Fuu trying to comfort her though she was the one hurt, and finally sighed with a resigned expression.

"I hope you are feeling better, then, because Senchou-san is currently waving at us," added Robin while pointing at Luffy and their other nakamas dancing around the fire, "And I'm afraid he might use the same method as for Aslan-ousama to make us come and join the dance…"

"Hum…" paused Fuu with a faint laugh, "I think we might join with our own free will then!"

And Fuu stood up from the bench and followed Robin to reunite with the others.

**

* * *

A FEW MINUTES LATER**

A mere minutes later, Fuu suddenly realised Robin was missing, the archaeologist having just greeted everyone before slipping away towards the spectators' benches, which made Fuu quite flabbergasted at the diversion tactic used by her friend.

_Humph… She's the one dragging me here but she left nearly immediately afterwards?_

Fuu glanced over her nakamas who were celebrating their victory against the White Witch with shared feelings. What Robin had told her about trust was slowly sinking into her heart, but at seeing Luffy and Chopper's usual stupid dances, she felt like putting everything else aside.

_After all, whichever world I'm in, I like dancing, especially with my friends…_

And she joined the little group of over-excited pirates twirling around the fire, decided to enjoy herself with her nakamas.

A few minutes later, she had already succeeded, joking around with Nami at seeing Usopp's new dance steps, laughing at Chopper's chopsticks show, and trying to avoid Luffy's elastic arms which were still rounding up dancers – more or less volunteering to join.

Brook was still leading the orchestra, and he had begun a new song from his composition.

_Hey… That sounds like a rock song! A bit jazzy but still! If we were back home, we would dance a rock n' roll on that, but… Hum, well, and even here, why not?_

"Nami!" called Fuu with a bright eager smile, "I know some dance steps on music like that, are you interested?"

And she held her hand towards Nami.

"A dance?" tilted Nami, a bit surprised to see Fuu offering her hand for a dance.

"Yep, a dance from where I'm coming from… But we need to be two for it, you'll see!" answered Fuu with a grin.

And under Fuu's lead, the two girls started their rock n' roll, with boisterous turns and passes. Nami had quickly grasped the concept and was laughing whole-heartedly, soon followed by Fuu who hadn't danced like that since an eternity.

All the guys were now rounding up around then, quite curious about the dance in question.

"Shishishi! Looks so fun!" declared Luffy at seeing his two nakamas' dance and trying to imitate them on the side.

"Well, originally it's supposed to be danced in couple!" smiled Fuu while shooting a calculating glance at Nami then Luffy, "And the guy is the one leading!"

And in her new pass, Fuu swiftly made her wrist turn around Nami's head before letting go of her friend's hand and sending her twirling into Luffy's arms.

"Luffy, pass!" grinned she at seeing he had perfectly caught his partner back.

And Luffy didn't need to be told the same thing twice, he had already resumed the rock n' roll, oddly well for someone who had had no knowledge at it a mere hour before that.

_He's really gifted for observing moves and replicating them! It's even a bit depressing to see him being so good at it! _Thought Fuu while repressing a laugh at seeing her two nakamas – newly lovebirds – dancing together while exchanging overjoyed grins.

"Fuu-chan! Can you teach that dance too?" asked Sanji while holding out his hand towards Fuu, strangely serious for once.

"Of course!" smiled Fuu with her most welcoming smile, overjoyed as every time she was dancing.

Sanji felt like he had heard angels ringing bells above his head, and they both began their rock n' roll.

Fuu had managed to teach Sanji's the basic steps despite his lack of focus – his mind probably wondering on every pretty girl he would invite to dance once he would know of to – and after several minutes, they had caught back Nami and Luffy's level.

Brook was watching over the dancing pairings with delight, most inspired by the concept. And a full list of similar songs went on under the skeleton gentleman lead.

At a change of music, Luffy even went to pick up Zoro from his drinking contest to drag him on the dance-floor, while Sanji was going to ask the honour of a dance to his dear _Nami-swan_, Fuu cheering them up from the side-lines and prompting Sanji some steps and passes to help him focus on the dance.

BONG. A huge noise on her left suddenly made Fuu turn her head: Zoro had just knocked off Luffy with a punch on his captain's head.

"What the heck?" shouted he while baring his teeth, "Don't drag me into this damned thing! Two guys can't dance like that while holding hands!"

"Buuuuuttt…" was sulking Luffy with a sheepish expression.

_Hihihi… _inwardly laughed Fuu at imagining the scene of Luffy and Zoro doing some ballroom dancing, _If Yaoi fan-girls were hearing that, oh my, hihihi…_

"Tsk!" screeched Zoro while ignoring Luffy and walking away from the dance-floor.

But at turning back, he ended up right in front of Fuu – who had rushed towards them at thinking Zoro might need to be stopped but was now trying her best to stop laughing at the scene she had witnessed.

On his side, Luffy had gotten Nami's hand back, sending Sanji run after some aquamarine-haired nymph.

Fuu finally stopped laughing and looked at Zoro with a joyful smile.

"Do you want me to teach you the steps, Zoro?" offered she to the swordsman, mentally estimating that someone so good with kendo katas should have no trouble memorizing a couple of dance steps.

"No need!" cut Zoro very dryly, with a look that seemed to say _'As if I was going to dance, and something like that on top of that!'_

And he walked past Fuu to get back to the bench where his alcohol was waiting for him. Fuu sulked a bit at his lack of enthusiasm for dancing – _how can someone not like dancing?_ – but finally grinned at having found out the perfect counter for it.

"Oh, could you be lacking confidence?" provoked she, instantly stopping Zoro in his steps, "Well, Sanji only needed a couple of minutes to master the steps, so…"

That was the final blow in the swordsman ego, and he jumped back to answer her with a very loud voice.

"Screw him! This kind of damned dance, I can master it is a few seconds!" announced he with a huge vein bumping on his temple.

And he grabbed Fuu's hand in his and pulled her on to him with no more invitation.

_Eh…?_

SHIN. But nothing more happened…

"Hum…" began Zoro in a blush, most definitely regretting his previous declaration, "I… I just need to hold your hand and make you twirl, right?"

Fuu raised her eyes towards Zoro's face and made a huge effort not to laugh at seeing him so embarrassed and yet so reluctant to recognize it.

"Hum, yes… something like that…" replied she in a soft amused smile, her answer making her partner blush a bit more.

But once the first embarrassment passed, Zoro quickly became enthusiast.

Very enthusiast…

Too enthusiast…

The twirls he was making Fuu make were quickly augmenting in number and in speed, and despite all her dancing experience, the hazelnut-haired girl had had more and more trouble keeping up with him.

_Waaahhh… My head is spinning… I can't even detect which side Zoro is anymore… Why is he stringing up quintuple spins, waaahhh…_

Zoro had caught up Fuu's hand and had pulled her forward into an acrobatic chassé to make her twirl in front of him before letting go of her hand, forecasting that his partner would re-establish her steps in a sashay as she had done previously at each pass.

But this time, Fuu lost her balance, and she felt the ground irremediably attracting her while she was falling backwards.

_Kyaaa… _thought Fuu while dreading the fall, _Huh? Why is there no shock?_

And Fuu re-opened her eyes slowly, only to see that Zoro had caught her back just before she hit the ground, in a penché resembling more a tango step than a rock n' roll one, the swordsman's hand running down the hazelnut-haired girl's back in an acrobatic pose that had brought together the two dancers' faces way more closer than each of them would had liked – even if some spectators had even applauded at thinking it was the finishing pose of the dance.

SHIN. A small silence – or rather pure music notes – passed by on the two dancing partners who had frozen in this embarrassing position.

"… watch out…" mumbled Zoro, when finally breaking the silence and lifting Fuu back on her feet.

And before Fuu could answer, he had walked away without a single glance back, his cheeks a bit too hot to the swordsman liking.

Quite perplexed, Fuu glanced at Zoro's back as he was resuming his place on a bench between several jars of hydromel, not really understanding how one miss in the dance could make him renounce for good.

But before she could recover from her surprise, a hand was held out to her.

"Would you do me the honour of this dance, Young Fuu?" chivalrously asked the black-sapphire coated centaur who was inviting her.

"Ah, hum… Or course, the honour is all mine…" automatically answered Fuu while absent-mindedly giving her hand to the centaur, ballroom etiquette answering for her.

_I think it's the centaur-leader we met when Aslan when telling us about the Ice Dragon… _thought she distractingly while raising her eyes towards her dancing partner.

Ever since Zoro had left the dance-floor, the music had changed into a slower tempo, Sanji having bugged Brook so that he could give _a worthy musical jewel case to the exquisite voice_ of the aquamarine-haired nymph he had courted.

And the romantic and eerie ballad sung by the melodious voice of nymph rose around the fire.

The centaur thus held Fuu a bit closer and began the steps of a slow waltz.

_Wow, centaurs know how to waltz? _was surprised Fuu, _And really well on top of that, especially when considering two feet are already hard to synchronize… so with four of them…_

"I do need to congratulate you for your victory against the White Witch, Young Fuu." softly declared the black centaur in a smile.

"Oh, please, I did not do much myself…" mumbled Fuu, deeply embarrassed by the undeserved compliment and turning her head towards Luffy and the others – Luffy who still had Nami in his arms and was trying to replicate the waltzing steps of a couple of fawns nearby them.

"I do know your comrades deserve our gratitude. But I think you deserve more of our attentions: after all, you defeated the Sorceress despite your true nature…" exposed the centaur in a slow pas de deux that made Fuu's long pleated dress glitter under the flames of the huge fire.

SHIN. Fuu had frozen at the last part of the sentence, and the only things that were making her keep on dancing were her automatisms as a ballroom dancer.

_My true nature? What is he… _inwardly panicked she at the remark, blood slowly leaving her face.

"I do not wish to put you in any kind of embarrassment, but I concede being really curious to learn from where you are coming from, Young Fuu…" confessed the sapphire-coated dancer, "It is already quite evident you are not emitting the same energy as your comrades… not the same smell…"

Fuu froze a bit more and lowered her eyes, pretending to focus on her waltzing steps while her brain had switched into alert state.

_What can I answer? What should I answer, for God's sake…? Not the same… smell? Oh my… does he knows!Did he guess…?_

When Fuu finally raised her eyes towards her partner again, her expression was a very troubled one, even if she had wanted to put on a neutral façade.

"It would not bother me if you decided not to tell me about it, of course…" smiled awkwardly the centaur at realising he had completely embarrassed his hazelnut-haired dancing partner.

"Hum… Excuse me…" began Fuu, bringing the centaur's eyes back on her, "Did you… did you mention this difference of… smell… to my nakamas?"

The simple mention of this possibility made Fuu grow paler and paler.

"I did, indeed…" calmly answered the centaur while gazing at Fuu's amber eyes which had startled of panic at his reply, "Though I did not explained to your comrades what was making you different from them because your leader said he did not care about it!"

SHIN. Music notes flew by a few seconds, and Fuu's expression softened gradually.

_Sigh… _thought she while turning her grateful eyes towards the one who was happily waltzing with Nami at a few metres on her right, _That's Luffy for you, I guess…_

The black-sapphire coated centaur gazed a few seconds at Fuu who was still brightly smiling in Luffy and Nami's direction, and finally resumed the conversation with a bright new resolve.

"If you are so anxious at the fact that your comrades might learn that such a difference of nature separates you from them, would you rather consider staying on Fimbul, Young Fuu?" proposed he with an eerie glow in his eyes.

TILT. Fuu suddenly brought back her eyes on her partner, looking at him with utter amazement.

"The people here highly estimate you for the prowess you accomplished at the Ice Palace." précised the centaur without leaving Fuu's eyes out of his sight, "And the creatures from this Kingdom all dispose of a magical energy similar to yours. We would welcome you with delight; I myself would be overjoyed to see you choose to stay with us!"

"Hum… th… that's…" mumbled Fuu, both stupefied and strangely ill-at-ease by the declaration, and more especially by the sapphire eyes that were gazing at her with what seemed like hope.

_He… he seems to anticipate a positive answer, but why? And before that… how can I answer 'No' while staying courteous, hum…_

But while Fuu was losing herself into her thoughts, the black-coated centaur slowly bent over and brought his lips near Fuu's ear, softly brushing her cheeks at passing.

Fuu froze completely… Even her feet forgot about their conditioned waltzing steps.

"I would whole-heartedly enjoy seeing you stay in Fimbul, Beautiful Fuu." confessed the centaur in a murmur, "The colour of your magical aura simply bewitched me beyond words, and I cannot look away anymore… and your… fragrance… is so… intoxicating…"

_W… wh… what… _completely panicked Fuu at feeling the centaur inhale her skin, making her let go of his shoulder precipitately.

BAM. Fuu suddenly felt a hand grabbing her by the arm and pulling her away from the centaur's embrace in the span of an instant.

"My apologies, but I had already reserved the next dances…" declared in a dark tone the voice of the one who had pulled Fuu out of trouble.

"Ace!" exclaimed she in a relieved murmur.

_Thanks God…_

The black-sapphire coated centaur looked Ace up and down for a few seconds, before finally turning his eyes towards his previous dancing partner.

Regrets appeared at realising the hazelnut-haired girl's face was still turned towards her saviour, a bright smile making her eyes gleam as she was gazing not at him, but at the Son of Adam who had claimed her.

And he reluctantly conceded his defeat, aware that his dancing partner had already made her choice.

"I hope to see you again… Beautiful Fuu." announced the centaur while chivalrously taking his leave.

"Ah, hum… Please spend a pleasant evening…" bowed Fuu at suddenly realising how impolite she had been, "I had been honoured to dance with you."

"So did I…" answered the centaur in a sad smile before walking away.

The slow music notes from Brook's orchestra flew by on the fire-lit plaza.

"So your sort of guy, it's the four-legged and very hairy type?" screeched Ace while glaring at the centaur definitely leaving the dance-floor.

_Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeehhhhhh?_

"Wh… what are you talking about?" retorted Fuu with a surprised and disbelieving expression.

"Do you seriously think you can just flirt with any male creature just because I'm not around?" provoked Ace with his usual teasing smile, while gently taking Fuu's right hand in his and placing his second hand on the girl's back curve, resuming the steps of a new waltz.

"Wh…?" blushed furiously Fuu, "You were happily drinking with Marco and the others, and you…"

_Wait…! Why am I retorting something like that? Why am I even answering his stupid innuendo…? And… and more importantly, why did I just feel guilty that the centaur tried to flirt with me in front of Ace…? Waaaaaaaaaahhhhhh!_

Fuu's eyes were starting to spin with panic while she was trying to put some order between the contradictory feelings that were appearing in her heart and the related justifications popping up in her mind.

And the spins of the waltz were not helping her to get rid of her confusion, of course.

"And… and first of all, why couldn't I just dance with whoever I choose?" ended up retorting Fuu while raising her sulking yet indomitable eyes towards her partner.

"Hum…?" mocked Ace while crooking the smile he was always showing her when he was provoking her, "So you would have preferred me to let you with your previous partner?"

Fuu's cheeks immediately took an impossible to hide bright red colour, and she lowered her eyes on Ace's torso to try and dissimulate the blush under the shadow of her hair, forcing herself to focus more on the buttons of Ace's white shirt and Lavallière tie – from his suit from the Ice Palace – than on his _annoying_ teasing smile.

"N…no…" finally admitted she in a voice softer than a whisper, "I… I'm glad you… you came to pull me out of it…"

Feeling her cheeks burn with shame at confessing such a thing, Fuu finally dared to raise her eyes towards her dancing partner, half expecting him to mock her declaration.

But when her pitiful eyes met Ace's obsidian ones, Fuu blushed of two more tones – if it could have been possible – when she realised Ace was gazing at her with a tender and radiant expression, as if gleaming of pure happiness at what she had just confessed.

_Waaaaaaahhh… I'm sure I must be as red as his pearl necklace! Don't look at a girl with such an expression, you damned playboy… _thought Fuu while biting her inferior lip, deeply embarrassed.

Around them were twirling couples of centaurs, fawns and other fantastic creatures, still under the magical song of the aquamarine-haired nymph.

But Fuu wasn't even realising that her friends were also spinning around them: Luffy and Nami, Marco and Anne, some other couples of pirates…

She wasn't really hearing the melodious notes from Brook's orchestra, not the cheering from some distant drinking contest…

Not even daring to raise her eyes back on her partner's, but all her sensations focusing on the mere gesture or breathe of their closed position, Fuu was pursuing their waltz, softly squeezing her hand on his shoulder.

And with a tender smile, Ace pulled her a little closer to him and led her amidst the flow of the music in a series of slow twirls and soft spins, not leaving the hazelnut curls and the blushing face of his partner out of his sight…

**

* * *

ON THE SIDELINES**

A bit farther, on the spectators' ranks, Robin walked towards a tree-trunk bench.

"Can I…?" asked she at showing the empty sitting place near Zoro.

"Hum…" nodded Zoro absent-mindedly while finishing his tankard of hydromel, before filling it again with one of the numerous jars nearby him.

Intrigued, Robin followed the direction in which the swordsman was gazing at and saw Fuu and Ace twirling entwined on the dance-floor.

"Oh… I see…" commented she in a neutral tone before sitting down on the bench, a teasing smile on her lips.

"What?" retorted Zoro at seeing the crooked smile Robin had offered him.

"I've been wondering for some time now, Ken-san…" began Robin with her usual mysterious yet placid expression, "Could you have… fallen in love with Fuu?"

SHRRR. Zoro spurted out the mouthful of hydromel he was gulping down, his eyes out of their sockets under the shock.

"Wh… what did you just say?" gasped he while turning briskly towards the dark-haired archaeologist, half-wiping his chin with his sleeve.

"I just realised that you were caring a lot for her, and that you were quite often gazing at her…" calmly pursued Robin, "And I can understand that Cook-san would react jealously at each little allusion on her and Ace-san, but it's definitely not like you to react too, so…"

"I stop you right now!" cut Zoro, massaging his head with an annoyed expression, "That's not it!"

Zoro's eyes wandered back on the dance-floor around the huge fire, and more especially on the silhouette of an hazelnut-haired girl wearing a white pleated dress.

"I thought about it," added he with a weary sigh, "But…"

_So he realised it… _thought Robin at contemplating her nakama's slightly blushing face, the swordsman being evidently embarrassed by what he was presently confessing, plus a hint of irritation.

"But there's a decisive element that convinced me that I don't love her that way!" finished Zoro.

SHIN. Robin's eyes widened at the last part of the sentence.

"You LOVE her?" repeated she, both her eyebrows raised to show her incredulity in front of such a declaration from their not-really-sociable-and-even-less-loving swordsman.

"Well, yeah…" grumbled Zoro with a faint blush, "I want her to be happy… I want to chop down anyone who would want to hurt her… want to protect her… and I like to gaze at her from afar… like to hear her call my name while smiling… Yeah, this kind of things, but…"

"But?" questioned Robin, more and more dumbfounded by such a confession even if her amazement wasn't showing on her face.

_Ken-san must have drunk way more than usual to admit all of that! And God knows he's a heavy drinker…_

"It resembles love in all points, what you're currently describing…" muttered she in a perplexed tone.

"But…" pursued Zoro with a very straight face, "I've got zero desire to put her in my bed!"

SHIN. On the contrary to her habit, Robin had just been taken aback by someone's declaration. More precisely, Zoro's words were chiming in her head but without echoing anywhere, stupefaction having emptied her mind of everything else.

Zoro had gone back to his tankard, but a bit surprised by the lack of reaction of his interlocutor, he finally turned his head back towards Robin, a bit embarrassed. And Robin's eyes focused back on him.

"Wait, then… then why are you always provoking Ace-san for Fuu?" asked Robin while slightly shaking her head to try and put out all the new pieces of information back in place, "If what you just said is true, then you could just let him…"

"Tsk! No way I'm letting him take her away so easily! He'd better prove he deserves her and can make her happy or I won't let him get away with it! And well, I must say it's funny to see this idiot usually so serious and all-mighty lose his cool for a girl…" softly laughed Zoro while remembering all the provocative glares and crisis of jealousy Ace was giving him as long as it was concerning Fuu.

"Hum… That sounds like a serious brother-complex, that!" remarked Robin with a monochord tone.

SHRRR. Zoro had just spurted out a mouthful of hydromel for the second time.

"Grr… And why are you asking me all of that, by the way?" roared he before going back to his drink, really on the nerves, "Are you jealous or something?"

"Hum, I might be…" answered Robin with her usual enigmatic smile.

SHRRR. Zoro just spurted out his third mouthful of hydromel.

"Wh…" began he while turning his eyes towards his interlocutor, but only to realise she had already stood up and walked away.

_She doesn't know what she wants, this damned woman! _thought Zoro, dumbstruck, at contemplating the drifting-away silhouette of Robin in her white dress.

On the other side of the plaza, the flames of the huge fire were slowly dying away, leaving the dancers and spectators sleepy of tiredness or alcohol.

And everyone finally fell asleep, expressions of happiness floating on their faces, their dreams wearing off the soft colour of Spring…

**...**

**TO BE CONTINUED**


End file.
